Mass Effect 1 Retold and redone
by Gethkiller117
Summary: In the fight to stop Saren Shepard needed all the help he could get. but what if he had two other marines who survived Eden Prime helped him? first fanfiction. had to delete first time cause i kinda screwed up the first time. rating may change. please RnR
1. Chapter 1

Mass Effect 1 Retold

(I don't own Mass Effect just copies of the games)

The shuttle taking us to Eden Prime was one of the first trips to planet I'll ever take. My friend Mike and I joined the alliance military at the same time and were assigned to the same unit and headed for or first assignment. Our job was help existing marine forces on the ground to guard a new artifact recently discovered. A beacon, but not just any type, a Prothean beacon. My gunnery Sergeant quickly began briefing us on our mission.

"Alright marines this our first mission as a unit of the Alliance Marines. Our job is to help current marine units already deployed to guard a recently unearthed Prothean beacon. A lot of people would kill just to get their hands on one of these things. Which means pirates, Mercenaries and on the slim side Geth. Now I'll tell this, an Alliance stealth ship's is enroute to pick up this package. This is the first stealth ship in existence, we are working in coordination with the council in this one as well. So don't botch this, you hear me marines?" said the sergeant.

"SIR, YES, SIR, WE GET YOU SIR!" we all shouted in unison.

"Good get ready, we're about to hit the atmo, now get ready and stay frosty," said our staff sergeant. The shuttle quickly landed as we made sure our clips were loaded and safeties on. Or I was at least, I was the only one on the damn shuttle with a weapon that had to be reloaded after a certain amount of bullets were fired. Mike had one the new HMWA Advanced Assault Rifles. My dad got us the best weapons since A, he was an admiral and B, I was his son.

The shuttle doors opened and we all filed out. "Alright ladies, lets go. Line up and we'll get you in two man teams. Then you'll be assigned a garrison to report to for patrol. Serviceman first class Thompson and Serviceman second class Jones, you are going with the 212. You will report to Gunnery Chief Williams. Move it Out marines," said the chief.

"Sir, yes, sir," Andrew and I said. We ran over to the 212 garrison headquarters and reported in. Williams was already at the patrol site when we showed up at the space port. Off to the left was the Prothean beacon being guarded by several marines from our company.

"Well better find our squad. We're already lost some time for patrol," I said.

"Come on Tex we got some time to admire this beacon," said Mike. Suddenly we heard a massive boom and saw an odd ship begin to land nearby. "Or in this case defend it from attack," said Mike. We watched as several drop ships headed out towards our position. But seeing no landing site they flew further and landed in the nearby forest.

"Um I think we are royally screwed," I said.

"Yeah and on our first day too," said Mike. Several odd looking soldiers began to head our way we took up positions alongside our fellow marines. "Lets hope that stealth ship gets here and off loads an entire battalion," Mike said.

"Or a couple spectres in lieu through of," I said. We opened fire once we saw a friendly get shot in the head. These new enemies weren't human though. Nor were they Krogan, Asari, Batarian, Turian, or even Quarian. They were some type of robot. I looked closely at their flash light heads and realized who they were, Geth. "Hey Mac! I think I know who these buggers are!" I said over the sound of my rifle.

"Who are they then?" Mike asked.

"Geth!! They're rutting Geth!!!" I shouted.

"What? No way. The Geth haven't been seen outside the Perseus Veil in like three hundred years," said Mike.

"Then who else has flashlights for heads?" I asked. Mike peeked over our cover and nearly got his head shoot of. He was able to see the enemy though.

"Okay you're right about that. But what are they here for? Eden Prime's got no valuable resources," said Mike. I quickly slapped him on the helmet. "Ow the crap?" he said.

"You moron the beacon. That's what they're after. They want the bloody beacon," I said.

"How'd they know of the beacon? I thought this was a classified operation?" Mike said.

"Who knows?" I said. I peeked over cover and fired off a few rounds. "Maybe they got one of our guys to squeal about it and killed him after they got the info," I said.

"Nay they'd have to have been seen at one point. No way they'd be able to do that without someone seeing them," said Mike.

"Good point. Bet this some type of training exercise then. Something to get us up to snuff," I said.

"Seems pretty real though," said Mike.

"Bet it was a Russian general who thought this up. You know how those guys are when it comes to war," I said.

"Good point. To them the best training comes from real life situations, like this.

"All we need as a spectre to top this training mission off," I said.

"Hey! Got word that the Spectre Saren landed north of here, hold til he gets here," said the captain.

"Great now I now this isn't your everyday graduations mission," I said.

"Too right man," said Mike. I popped up and Mike saw my whole body light up blue and throw my arm in such a way that a force of energy slammed one of the robots into a wall.

"Man that whole biotic crap just constantly freaks me out," said Andrew.

"Yeah how do you think I took when my dad told me I was a biotic," I said.

"I gotta stop hanging out with you, always creeping me out with your weird powers," said Mike.

"I'll mull it over after we survive this mission," I said. We continued to fight for awhile and were successfully holding our position. _Not to bad for a bunch rookies, _as my dad would say. That little while had actually been nearly an entire hour. We got word that the Geth were mainly focusing on the spaceport and surrounding forest region. Also the 212's only remaining existence at the spaceport was us and a currently M.I.A. Gunnery chief Ashley Williams. In short Eden Prime's main point of transport was overrun by Geth. The only hope we had was a small strike team making their way to us now.

Our hopes were raised as we saw Saren step off the cargo train and we immediately began fighting back even harder. Amazing on how a single soldier could make all the difference in a battle.

"Marines! We got us a spectre in the house lets give him some covering fire," said our sergeant.

"Yee haw! Let's light 'em up!" shouted everyone. Our lone fifty .cal began tearing everything that didn't bleed blood to pieces. Saren looked around as lots of Geth began to fall all around him. But what got me concerned was the fact on how he was just walking rather than running. Plus the Geth had eyes on him during the entire fight and not one took a shot at him.

"Captain Saren's walking through this massacre without a hit. Why hasn't the enemy taken a shot at him?" I said.

"Maybe their focused mainly on the beacon. They are machines you know," said the captain.

"Why isn't he running? If I were in his shoes I'd be running like hell," I said.

"Marine he's a spectre he's seen more action than half the alliance put together. Just cause he's not running doesn't mean he's-" said the captain. He was cut off when Saren got close to us and shot him. I tried to use my biotic powers on him and failed too stop him. Saren shot my C.O. in the head and got me in the gut. He turned his weapon on our machine gunners and killed them with ease. Mike tried to wrestle the gun from Saren and save the rest of our squad. Saren knocked him to the ground and shot him twice, leg and gut.

Within minutes our position was filled with dead marines and live Geth. A couple teams of other marines followed up and while one three man team went ahead, the other stayed to check for survivors. Our Captain was gone. Jamie and Rodriguez were also dead. Kaylee and Manny were among the dead. All the people I had to the honor of fighting with and going through boot camp aside from Andrew were dead. Jamie and Rodriguez were the best of friends and were actually going to join their dads in a restaurant business. Kaylee and Manny were the oddest of couples who met during boot camp. Planned to get married and Manny wanted me and Andrew to be grooms. Mainly cause he owed us for helping him with passing the camps rigorous physical part. Especially since our D.I. kinda hated his guts. Now they died in each others arms, they way they wanted I guess. We were transferred to an Alliance hospital on the citadel after the fight on Eden Prime.

We eventually got word of a Commander Shepard saving Eden Prime from the Geth and how the guy was petitioning for Saren to be revoked of his spectre status. Council rejected it due to lack of evidence. Then we got a visit from shepard and our supposed C.O. about another attempt to get Saren booted. Had to come sometime I guess


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 The Citadel

I was reading the latest in stars and stripes when Andrew alerted me of the arrival of a few people. Commander Shepard, Captain Anderson and two marines.

"Oh shit, well had this coming," I said.

"Good day troopers. Are you two Service man Thompson and Service man Jones?" Anderson asked.

"Yea we are. He's Jones. I'm Thompson. I'm surprised to see a couple of high and might's like yourselves visit lowly marines like us," I said. I was clearly pissed off.

"Something troubling you son?" Anderson asked.

"Bet your ass something' troubling me," I said," I watched as a gorram spectre kill my friends and Captain. And my own damn government hasn't done anything. Now a couple high rankers come by to congratulate us with a couple medals and give us a promotion or two. You guys got a helluva nerve coming by," I said.

Williams pulled up a chair next to me and said," I know how you feel. Shepard does too. But we might have a chance to get those men who fell some closure. We're going to try to and get Saren kicked out of the spectres," said Williams.

"Like that'll do anything," I said.

"I beg your pardon trooper?" Anderson asked.

"We already heard how you tried to get him booted the first time. Now a second time? What the hell's going to change the council's mind?" I asked.

"Those helmets," said Anderson. He was gesturing to our helmets cameras. "With the footage on those we'll have irrefutable proof was the one working with the Geth since he shot all of your team mates," said Anderson.

I looked at my helmet and quickly thought it over. "Just that footage of him gunning down marines at Eden Prime isn't going to be enough. We'll need something else. The whole thing won't just go over smoothly. I served a couple months with JAG and even with incrementing video footage the council, our own damn council and their's didn't do shit," I said. I remembered that day, my first case as a lawyer one of my many talents or career decisions actually. I found evidence that should've proved Anderson's innocence on his spectre mission, he trusted me too believed I could clear his name. But I failed.

"To be honest I can't believe Anderson's even wanting my help after JAG," I said.

"That was a long time ago son. Plus you were on your first mission, up against a legion of lawyers for Saren. That didn't help but you did get the council to keep an eye on him, albeit a blind one but an eye," said Anderson.

"Wait you two know each other?" said Shepard.

"Yeah before I tried my hand at bomb disposal and eventually infantry I tried out as a JAG lawyer. Mike was still trying to sign up and well I got my first case. A classified but first case, also my last. I found a partially damaged camera with the footage needed to clear Anderson. One headache of hacking later and we're presenting the vid and we're accused of fabricating it. I lost that case because some pansy wasted no good pencil pushers said I fabricated the footage. We lost the case and then I tried to resign. No need to keep trying to defend some one when you realize how corrupt you're military government is. So I tried my hand at demolition and bomb disposal. One screwed up training mission later and I'm assigned to being an infantry man," I said.

"At least you found something you're good at," said Shepard.

"You can say that for now. By the time my dad reads what happened I'll be transferred to a non-combat position faster than you can say 'Adios amigo you screwed up big time.' He'll keep moving me around until I can do it with out screwing up. I know he will," I said.

"Why would he do that?" Shepard asked.

"Ever hear of Grand Admiral Roland D. Thompson? I'm sure you have," I said.

"Yes we've heard of him," said Anderson," served a couple tours with him too, why?"

"Well that Admiral is my dad. He gets me and friend the best stuff if it'll help us in battle or whatever we end up doing. Now I'll probably end up on a cruiser patrolling the terminus systems. But that aint me. I'd rather have died on Eden Prime than go through all this reassignments," I said.

"Well maybe this'll help," said Shepard. He turned to Anderson and said," Captain, you could get him assigned to my unit right?"

"I could I'll see what I can do. But we need you're support here son," said Anderson.

"But not just me," I said.

"What?" Shepard asked.

"Me and my buddy, Mike. You present one camera with footage, you might do okay. Present two you'll be damn near unstoppable. You also get Mike transferred with me, we'll both present our recordings," I said.

"Alright Thompson if it'll help. I'll get you transferred, you two good to move now?" Anderson asked.

"Doc's said we gotta get two days of bed rest," I said. That put a worried look on their face's. "But since when can Doc's actually prescribe the right medication?" I asked. I threw my covers over and grabbed my combat shirt. They mainly left my legs alone since I only got shot in the gut. I stood up and helped my buddy get his gear. Shepard looked at the rifle by my bunk and eyed curiously.

"By the best equipment, you mean that?" Shepard asked pointing to my old out of date rifle.

"Nay that was my choice. I got him to send Mike a new top of the line rifle though. I like to fight old school. Call me old fashioned," I said. I grabbed my helmet and carefully took off the camera. Once it was off I tossed it to Shepard. He caught with ease.

"Why'd you take that off?" Shepard asked.

"Saren's got to know I'm still alive. His main target will be my helmet. Same goes for Mike's. speaking of which, Mike toss me yer helmet," I said. Mike promptly tossed me his helmet and I quickly started to get his camera off.

"Oh before I forget you guys did get promoted. Not by any of us though, but by the guys who saw the reports on how you and those other marines who held out before getting 'overrun' as the official story now goes," said Ashley.

"Yeah. Well Sullivan you're no longer Service first class, but now are operations chief Sullivan. Your old Gunnery Sergeant saw what you did and put you up for promotion," said Shepard. He turned to Mike and said," did the same for you but for some reason you only got Gunnery Chief."

I turned to my buddy and said," hey wanna switch ranks?"

He laughed and said," Don't tempt me man." We were already dressed for combat right there and they noticed how anxious we were at the idea for getting back at Saren. We walked out the door and turned to Shepard on the next course of action.

"We've got another lead that involves meeting up with a Turian in C-Sec. We talked to a guy from there and apparently he's going to see a doctor Chloe Michel. We need to get there and try to get him to help us further," said Shepard.

"Alright let's go," I said. We quickly made a dash for Doctor Michel's clinic. Mike and I got on either side of the door, ready to breach. "What are you doing?" Shepard asked.

"You this guy is following up a lead right?" I asked.

"Yeah but-" said Shepard.

"Which means Saren most likely will too," I said. Shepard shook his head and proceeded to open the door. Then he found I was mostly right. Several thugs were threatening the good doctor to keep her mouth shut about something.

The "head thug" noticed us and took the doctor hostage. He quickly shouted," Don't come any closer! You do and the Doctor gets a bullet to the head!"

Garrus, the C-Sec Turian, came around the corner and shot the thug. The doctor made a sound as several shots rang out. Not from the thugs but from Mike and I. My M16 made short work of two of the thugs and Mike's rifle took out another two. With the last of the enemy dispatched we approached to see our only lead merely shaken up by the near death experience.

"Great job Shepard. You gave me a clear shot at the bastard," said Garrus.

"That was reckless there. You could've hit the Doctor," said Shepard.

"Well still got the guy right?" said Garrus.

"Yeah but the risk was way too damn high. The doctor could've lost her life to us," I said.

"But…(sigh) guess you're right about that," said Garrus. He turned to Michel and said," are you alright Doctor?"

"Yes I'm alright. Just can't believe that Quarian caused all this," said Michel.

"Quarian?" I asked.

"Yes, a Quarian came by here not too long ago, she had been shot and was looking for somewhere safe. Said she needed to talk to the Shadow Broker. So I put her in contact with Fist, one the Shadow Broker's agents," said Michel.

"Not anymore, he is. Fist works for Saren now," said Garrus.

"What? Not even Fist is that stupid to do that," said Michel.

"Yeah well apparently the lying douche bag is. Now why would a Quarian be asking for the Shadow Broker? He deals in the information game," I said.

"You know about the Shadow Broker?" Shepard asked.

"Uh yeah who doesn't?" I said.

"She said she had some information about Saren. Said she'd only talk to the Shadow Broker," said Michel.

"Wait information on Saren? I think I like this Quarian a lot better now," I said.

"If she's got info on Saren, we could use it in his trial. That must be why Fist is even putting up with her. He's going to get her to a back alley and shot her dead. Question is which back alley? There's close to thousands of those on the citadel," said Shepard.

"Why not go ask Fist? But the fun way?" Mike said.

"Yeah. Only way we'll get to him and the Quarian," said Kaiden.

"Well what are we doing standing around let's go," said Ashley. We turned to leave but Garrus offered to give us a hand in the mission. But with the way things were going we needed all the Allies we could get, so Garrus joined our group. But Shepard took only me and Mike, wanted to see how well we did in actual combat.

After a short Taxi ride we arrived outside Chora's Den, Fist's main base of operations. "Well now or never," I said. We ran to the door and took up breaching positions. The club seemed closed but the door remained functional.

"Seems our new friend knows we're coming," said Mike. I quickly opened the door and we walked right into a firefight. Behind one of the makeshift pieces of cover was a Krogan. Guy was in danger of being out flanked and barely saw the flankers just as we opened fire.

I opened up with an unrelenting salvo of 7.62 millimeter shells. We got behind cover and greeted our new "ally".

"Name's Shepard. That's Mike over there and this here's Thompson. We're here for Fist," said Shepard.

"That makes four of us. I've been hired to shot him on sight," said the Krogan.

"Well we need information from him. Mind if we keep him alive long enough so we can get the info?" I said.

"Fine, but I take the shot to kill him. Since we're working together here, I'm Wrex," said the Krogan.

"Nice to meet you," I said. I peeked over our cover and said," we got half a dozen guards. Mostly human, think I saw another Krogan out there though. Man I wish you asked me after this. I thought the fight back at Eden Prime was bad enough," I said.

"You can still quit now if you want," said Shepard.

"Fuck that rather die in battle than running away from it," I said. Mike fired once more and we started to pick off them enemy one by one. After five minutes just a couple of guards remained.

"This is taking too long, we need to pick this up," said Wrex.

"I agree. Time for the fun part of being a Biotic," I said.

"What a Biotic?" said Shepard. I ran out from cover and my body flared with blue flames. I charged the Krogan and sent him flying back. The poor bastard seemed surprised too. I looked at another guard and sent a force of energy that crushed him against the wall. When the Krogan threatened to get back up, I put a few bullets in his brain.

"Huh nice job Human. Never seen your kind do anything like that," said Wrex.

"Yeah well there's a first for everything," I said.

"Yeah and next time tell me if you're a biotic," said Shepard.

"Right. I'll do that next time. Lets get Fist and then the Quarian," I said. We quickly went to the back door and ran into a pair of guards. Well actually warehouse workers, guess we killed all the real ones. "Stay back or we'll shoot," one said.

"Warehouse workers. Not a fair fight for them," said Wrex.

"Maybe we can end this without a fight," I said.

"How do you plan on doing that?" said one of the workers. I raised my rifle and clicked the fire selection to full automatic. I aimed mere meters over their heads and fired. "Shit, okay you win. Go ahead and do whatever you want with Fist. He doesn't pay us enough to combat regular military with that type of fire power," said one of the workers.

"Could've just killed them you know," said Wrex.

"Just shooting everything you see is never the answer. Plus I was itching to scare the hell out of someone with just blanks," I said. I calmly ejected the mag and slapped in a fresh one while Shepard just shook his head in amusement. "Time to get that Quarian out of harm's way," I said.(A/N yes I know that line sounds stupid couldn't think of anything else) we rushed into Fist's office just as he powered up a couple turrets. We had the advantage of cover though. Fist was hiding behind his desk, expecting his turrets to make short work of us.

They almost did to. But luckily Shepard had me and Mike. "Hey Mike. You still got that firecracker?" I asked.

"You knows it," said Mike.

"Alright light it up and throw it," I said.

"A firecracker? Like that's going to do anything," said Wrex.

"Yes under normal construction but I designed these puppies myself. Basically all the power of two blocks of C-4 in a light weight bundle," I said. I lit the fuse with my lighter and "cooked it off. Mike and I tossed 'em and Shepard said," Wait by two blocks of C-4 you mean all together?"

"Nope I mean individually. Get ready for a lot of boom," I said. I tossed the demo charge just as Andrew threw his. A powerful explosion came after two seconds and the two gun turrets were smoldering wrecks. Fist was trying to prop himself on a couch that was just wrecked.

"holy hell, when you said boom you really meant boom," said Shepard. We walked up to Fist and pointed a pistol at him. "Where's the Quarian?" Shepard asked.

"I don't know I really don't," said Fist.

"Damn just when you had a chance to keep a bullet out of yer head," I said.

"Wait I may not know where she is exactly but I might be able to tell you where she might be. Head to the alley behind the markets. She'll be there, she's expecting the Shadow Broker, instead it'll be Saren's men," said fist. He let loose a weak laugh and Wrex put a bullet in his head.

"We got to get moving. Much as I don't like Quarians now a days, I can't live with the fact that I let an innocent die," I said.

"Why do you hate Quarians?" Shepard asked.

"That training mission I mentioned earlier, it got botched because of the Quarian we had assigned to us. He let all of my guys get killed. I never really liked any alien species after that really," I said. Shepard understanding since he went through the same thing on Akuze gave me a nod and we went off to save the Quarian.

Unfortunately, there was a legion of merc's waiting for us. "Damn we got to blow through this little blockade or we're losing that Quarian for good. Fucking Merc's," said Shepard. I fired a burst from my rifle and noticed a "break" in their line.

"Shepard, let me make a dash for the alien. With my biotic's and the firepower I got on me, I should be able to ensure the Quarian's survival," I said.

"You better hold up on your word Thompson," said Shepard.

"You can count on me commander," I said.

"Get moving marine," Shepard shouted. I sighted the break and sprinted toward it. I used my Charge ability to knock several enemy mercs. I didn't break my stride and was able to reach the alley Fist mentioned in a matter of seconds. I saw a Quarian clearly waiting for some one and couldn't but help think of how… attractive she looked, even with the suit on.

I ran to her and said," Ma'am I'm Operations chief Thompson, Alliance military. I've got orders to get you out of here."

"What? Did the Shadow Broker send you?" the Quarian asked.

"Ma'am hate to break it to you but Fist pulled a fast one on you. Shadow Broker ain't coming just some of Saren's men. We've got to move, now," I said.

"What? Fist set me up? Why don't I believe you?" she asked. I noticed a Turian backed up by two Salarian soldiers, ex-military it seemed.

"Why not ask them?" I said pointing at the group of newcomers. She looked and began to see I was right.

"Hey army boy what are you doing here? We're exchanging information here, so buzz off," said the Turian.

"I'm not moving," I said.

"Guess we'll have to kill you both then," said the Turian. But just as their weapons were brought to bear, I swung my arm and unleashed my biotic powers. With the Turian's friends off balance, I brought my M16 up and riddled the damn Turian with bullets. With little than three bullets in the mag left and the Salarian's

already getting up, I switched to my pistol and started to fire at the aliens. I was able to gun down one while the Quarian took out the other, with only eight bullets too.

With the firefight subsided, I radioed Shepard. "Commander, enemy assassination team has been killed, Quarian is alive also. How are things on your end?" I said into the radio.

"Roger that Thompson, we've killed all enemy merc's and will rendezvous with you at Udina's office. Move it up now marine," said Shepard.

"Affirmative. Meet you there," I said. I turned around to see a pistol being aimed at my face. "Uh I say something that offended you?" I asked.

"No what you did actually. How did you know I was going to be set up? Also how did you find this meeting point?" she asked.

"Like I said, we got the Intel from Fist. Wasn't exactly easy since the guy had close to platoon's strength of Mercenaries. The rest of my team got pinned down and I was sent ahead to help you," I said.

"Alright I believe you, for now. By the way my name is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. This way you won't keep calling me a Quarian. So where do we go now?" she asked.

"Human embassy. If you're willing we'll need the evidence you got on Saren. If not that's fine. We already got enough to get Saren booted from the Spectres," I said.

"Why save me then? Why get this evidence?" Tali asked.

"Several reasons, might have needed evidence to make case stronger. Wanted to make up for my mistake on Eden Prime when I saw my whole squad gunned down. I was conscious and still had half a clip left in my rifle. I still let my squad get killed. The other reason I found once I got here, I'll let you figure that reason out yourself," I said. We got to a rapid transit terminal and got a cab to take us to the embassy. Shepard and the rest of the team was already there waiting for me and Tali.

"'Bout time you showed up Thompson. This all out assault on Chora's Den and that firefight in the alleys of the lower wards. Shepard's already been told about this and we were just waiting for you," said Udina. He turned to see that I had brought a Quarian with me. "Who's this?" he asked.

"Sir this is another ace in the hole for us, hopefully. A C-Sec officer by the name of Garrus helped us out with that. Now if you'd kindly shut your trap maybe we can actually get something done," I said.

"Thank you, now I'm Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. I was on my pilgrimage when I heard about Geth outside the Veil," said Tali.

"Pilgrimage?" I asked.

"For Quarians it's their rite of passage into adult hood. As I was saying, I eventually came across a patrol and waited for one to become separated from the rest. I was able to retrieve some information, after destroying it," said Tali.

"Wait don't the Geth fry their memory cores after destruction? So we can't gather any Intel on them," said Anderson.

"Right but if you're quick and lucky enough, small caches of memory can be salvaged. What I was able to find was something in it's audio banks," said Tali. She turned on her Omni-tool and began playing what she had found.

"Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to the conduit," said the recording.

"That's Saren's voice! This proves he was on Eden Prime at the attack," said Anderson.

"There's no way the council can not believe this and the footage we've got," said Shepard.

"Wait there's more," said Tali. She played the rest and it revealed a second voice.

"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers," said the second voice.

"I don't recognize the other voice, the one talking about the Reapers," said Udina.

"Reapers? I think I heard that name before. But mainly only one, you know death," I said.

"Actually according to the Geth, the Reapers are a race of machines that existed over fifty thousand years ago. Around the time of the Protheans," said Tali.

"So these things might be the reason the Protheans vanished? But why would the Geth want to bring back something that wiped nearly all life in the universe?" I asked.

"Maybe since they are already machines, they'll just join them and help them in killing us," said Wrex.

"Well whatever the reason we need to get the council to strip Saren of his status. With his resources he could do this mission in a flash. But even if we were to delay him we might have a chance," said Anderson.

"Well are we going to stand around or are we going to go stop this son of a bitch?" I said.

"Yeah anit like anyone else is trying to stop him," said Andrew.

"Well we'll meet you at the tower, we'll get the meeting started," said Anderson.

"What about this Quarian?" said Wrex.

"My name is Tali," said Tali. She turned to me and said," Thompson you saw me in the alley, vouch for me that I can get the job done just as well as anybody."

"Commander, she did do a bang on job at helping me in the fight. Plus Quarians are well known for their ingenuity when it comes to ships and technology. We could have use for someone like her. For what it's worth I vouch for Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, let her join sir," I said.

"Well… alright. We may need her help in this matter. Lets get rolling. Meet you at the tower Captain," said Shepard.

"Affirmative Shepard. We'll see you there as well," said Anderson. Anderson and Udina left and Shepard turned to look at me.

"You didn't need to vouch for her marine. I would have let her on anyway," said Shepard.

"Yeah, well just felt like sticking up for someone who saved my skin," I said.

"Okay I'll remember that the next time I help you get out of a firefight. Also careful here man, wouldn't want to let yer gal get jealous and try to kill you right?" said Mike.

"'Gal'?" Tali asked, sounding a bit disappointed.

"Yeah, I've already got a girl back home waiting for me," I said.

"Sure but what you don't know is that, she's probably got some other guy waiting with her as well. Keeping her company and-" said Mike.

"Sergeant!" I snapped," Shut yer trap. We already get the idea. But I still say that yer off yer rocker."

"Alright keep lying to yourself, whatever lets you at night," he said with a chuckle.

"Wise-ass," I said.

"I'd say this is how you always act?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah. Keeps us sane for the most part," I said.

"well better not keep your leaders waiting," said Wrex.

"Yeah good idea," said Shepard. We exited the embassy and were stopped by a civilian who apparently needed Shepard for something.

"Commander Shepard, Service man Thompson, I am Samesh Bhatia, my wife was a member of the 212 on Eden Prime," said the man. He clearly hadn't been told of my promotion, I didn't really care though, just something some stuffed shirts give you to make you feel like you did something big.

"Yes, I do remember seeing a Bhatia on my list when I assigned to the 212 garrison force. Her first name was Nirali, I think," I said.

"Yes, I have a problem concerning her and need your help," said Samesh.

"Sure what is it?" said Shepard.

"Well I have been trying to get the Alliance to release her body but they won't. they haven't even told me why," he said.

"What? That's bullshit. Why the hell wouldn't they release the body?" I asked.

"I don't know but if you could help, please talk to Clerk Bosker and try to get him to release her body," he said.

"Well since this is a matter that seems worth checking into, we'll get her released. And if Bosker doesn't comply, we'll just have Sullivan make him see reason," said Shepard.

"Doesn't make any damned sense especially with keeping the body," I grumbled to myself. We left Mr. Bhatia and went the embassy lounge and found Clerk Bosker leaning up against a wall. We quickly began questioning him on why the body was being held. His response was simple, she had experienced unseen weapon damage which may be used to create new defenses against Geth attack.

But when I heard the sentence where he "couldn't" release the body due to research purposes rather than something more… important, I blew a gasket. I put Bosker up against the wall behind him and was damn near close to tearing out his scrawny pathetic throat.

"You listen here right now you stupid fuck! I was at Eden Prime and watched as **MY **friends were gunned down as well. Their families are lucky that they at least get to say good bye to their loved ones but Samesh doesn't even get that luxury. And now you damn fuckers are cutting into her like a damn ham? I ought to shot you myself. But then I would be just like you assholes. I fight in the Alliance to stop shit like this. Me and Shepard. Now when our people do it on fellow soldiers, we really wonder who the hell the true enemy is," I said.

"You know he's right. Besides I don't have a good enough reason on why I should order him to stand down. Hell I've got half a mind to have him just shoot you," said Shepard," Hell maybe I'll pull the trigger myself." Bosker could obviously see that when it came to our dead, marines don't fuck around.

"Alright, just put me down. Man it was hard to refuse Samesh but I can't say no to you guys especially when you've got a gun held to my head," said Bosker. "Tell Samesh he can expect his wife's body to be returned within the week," he said.

"Glad you saw reason. By the way," I said. I pulled out my pistol and made a gesture like I was going to shoot him, got Shepard to move but not Wrex or Mike, like they could tell before it happened. The only thing that came out was a click. "Wasn't loaded," I said. I smiled and Bosker showed he had a sense of humor and laughed. Wrex silently gave me "props" for using fear to every length. We left and Shepard proceeded to chew my ass.

"That was completely unnecessary," he said.

"Sorry sir, just too hear a fellow marine being carved up and not going home, just made me lose my temper. Can't exactly stand that. Heard my dad go on about shit like that for years. Told me, '_Boy, when you see a fellow man go down, you get him out of there. Don't let no one else take him. Make sure, damn sure that fallen brother gets home. Even if you have to stay to just to do it._'" I said.

"Your dad had a lot weighing on you huh?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah, he did. But I never forgot what he told me. I know I'll regret it later but I'll have the knowledge of knowing that he got to see his wife one last time before she was laid to rest," I said.

"Plus you got to scare the hell out of a Politian," said Mike.

"Yeah that was fun seeing a human do that," said Wrex.

"Looks like Wrex accepts you as a warrior now. Not very common really," said an unknown voice.

"Who said that?" said Shepard.

"I did. Pardon my manners, but I am Bernard Montgomery, or at least an Artificial Intelligence rendition of him at least," said the A.I.

"You have an A.I." Shepard asked.

"Wasn't my idea, my dad's. Wanted me to have an edge in combat and got me the latest in Artificial Intelligence. Never really liked the idea of a computer telling me about who's firing and where they're at," I said.

"Plus Tali's gonna freak. You know how Quarians are with A.I.'s. Probably shut it down than work with it," said Shepard. We quickly informed Samesh about the outcome and he was ecstatic, or close as you can be knowing you'll at least see your dead wife one last time. We picked up our conversation as we waited for a cab to take us to the tower.

"Well if she does want to shut it down, I'll walk her through it personally," I said with a grin.

"Operations Chief Thompson are you not aware of the regulations that would be in violation if there was an unauthorized shut down of Alliance material?" Montgomery said.

"Man I was kidding. That's another reason on why I prefer silence that damn computers. No sense of humor," I said. A cab came up and we got. Course, Wrex had to wait for another one since there wasn't enough room for him. When we got to the tower, Anderson was already yelling at us to hurry up. "You're late again. Udina's about to present our evidence.

"Maybe I ought to wait here. Seen the death of my comrades way too much," I said.

"No we'll need you testify. Just in case," said Shepard.

"Fine. They still don't believe us though, I swear to god someone's going out a window," I said. The video's from my helmet and Andrew's were playing and were promptly followed by Tali's evidence. Hard to watch Saren gun down my team when I witnessed it a couple days earlier. End result, Council finally believed humanity, and Saren's status was revoked. Joked around by saying," finally we're right, let's hang up a banner."

Unfortunately, the damn second voice turned out to belong to a matriarch. A powerful one too, with one or two company's of commandos. Well, more or less Anderson's request to transfer me and Mike to Shepard's ship wouldn't work out so I had nothing to worry about. But I actually hoped it would go through, give me a real reason to be away from my girl. But it worked both ways, I didn't even really want to think about the other way.

But I was proud to be there, Commander Shepard, sole survivor of Akuze and hero of Eden Prime, was made a Spectre. The very first Human spectre too. Now I was about to see if I was going on a mission with him. After the little ceremony we reported to the Normandy and received our orders. The request for Andrew and I went through and we even got a guy to deliver our email's once he converted them to letters. Guy we knew from Basic. Everyone called him Radar, like the guy from the popular and, still popular, 1970 to 1981 series called M*A*S*H. He acted a lot like the character too, probably why he got the name too. Now it was time to go after Saren and stop him from doing whatever it was he was doing. Hooray as my dad would say.


	3. Chapter 3: Therum

Chapter 3: Therum

Things were starting to turn out great now. Aside from the fact that we were now on a mission to save the galaxy or some crap like that. Williams is a bit on edge with the aliens we got here but she's also a bit relaxed since she's got some fellow marines to back her up in case things got ugly between us and them. Helped out in engineering due to the lack of anything to do around here. Adam's was a bit surprised at I how I knew about engines. That's one of the perks when you're growing up on Starships, I told him. We were now en-route to a planet called Therum, heard about it and not too thrilled. Damn thing was a lava world, how there were refineries down there I had no clue.

The damn thing also had Prothean ruins and housed our next team member, the daughter of Matriarch Benezia. We were to see if she knew anything about Saren or his plan. Even if she didn't we could still have a potential recruit. Unfortunately Saren more or less knows of her and given this Asari's knowledge on Protheans, she'd be a prime target for him. So we had to this fast and clean.

Shepard was going over on who take with him. He was thinking between the idea of me and Mike and a third member to go as a second team, draw off any Geth or just sticking with a small three man team. Didn't worry me none though. But as for Mike, I couldn't tell what he was thinking. I was cleaning my "stone-age" rifle, as everyone calls it, when Tali came up to me.

"Operations Chief Thompson?" she asked.

"Yeah Tali? I asked," by the way just call me Tex. I'm still not used to the new rank."

"Oh of course I wanted to thank you for the save back on the Citadel. I didn't think Humans would ever help Quarians. Especially you after what happened," said Tali.

"After what happened?" I asked.

"I think she means the failed Training mission you were on as a Demolitions expert when that Quarian left you and your fellow men to die," said Monty.

"What was that?" Tali asked.

"Right I forgot to tell you that I have an A.I. in my helmet. Not to fond of it either," I said.

"I thought humans enjoyed having A.I.'s. Makes your job a lot easier," she said. She obviously began to stop trusting me, thinking that my A.I. would turn on us like the Geth did to the Quarians.

"Normally yeah. When they're on starships and not listening to your every thought and word. Just so damn annoying. Rather use a bird to deliver my messages than this fucker," I said.

"Operations Chief are you forgetting that I can messages at the speed of light ? And unlike a bird I can manifest myself into enemy transmissions and hack just about any lock there is?" said the A.I.

"Yes but sometimes I prefer the old school method. One that didn't have damn A.I.'s talking my ears off," I said.

"That is anatomically impossible. In order to talk one's ear off would have to a very centered and powerful way of communication. However nothing like this exists," said Monty.

"Monty offline or shut up, which ever makes you quieter," I said.

"Compiling," said the A.I.

"Seems that you and I have a common interest. We both loathe A.I.'s," said Tali.

"Yeah guess we do huh?" I said. Then followed a rather awkward silence. I tried to keep cleaning my rifle only to bring my head up to try and catch her eye, or so to speak.

"Thompson, get Tali and Wrex, we're going in to find and rescue the doctor," said Shepard over the comm. Channels.

"Well best get going huh?" I said nervously.

"Yeah I better get Wrex," said Tali. After she left, Monty spoke again.

"You do realize that she may like you back right?" said Monty.

"Monty I thought I told you to shut down," I said obviously annoyed.

"Yes but you also told me to shut up or which ever made me quieter. I chose to just shut up. Seemed easier to do," said the A.I. I quickly reassembled my rifle and grabbed the ammo for it. We all assembled with Shepard at the Mako and piled in. I manned the turret and held on as we made a high altitude drop.

"Damn!" I shouted as we hit the ground.

"First drop?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah. My dad did almost a million of these and I thought I could do it. Remind me not to sign up for the Para jumpers," I said.

"Will do," he said with a chuckle. He hit the gas and we went zooming towards the dig site. But then we saw that we weren't the only ones after T'Soni. A Geth drop ship came around a mountain and dropped some Geth Amatures. These things were similar to tanks but had four legs and a main cannon that could rip several men in half. I aimed as best as I could at the things and unleashed a fury of bullets.

"Come on! Get Some you Bastards!" I shouted.

"Next time I take the turret Shepard," said Wrex.

"Noted. Right now we need to get to the dig site," said Shepard. After a few minutes seemed like the Geth gave up. Then we just nearly ran into a roadblock, complete with four heavy turrets.

"Shit. Roadblock," said Shepard," hang on we're taking a different route." he turned the Mako onto a different "road" and we still ran into Geth this time only a single turret. "Thompson take that fucker out!" shouted Shepard.

"On it like a bonnet," I said. I fired the Mako's heavy gun first and followed up with sustained fire from the machine gun. The top part exploded from the sustained fire. "Turret down," I said.

We drove into the compound and met Geth soldiers. Unfortunately the other side had the roadblock up to and while I provided covering fire, Tali got out and opened the gates. She hopped on just as the gates were sinking into the ground. While we still had some ground to cover we knew we were getting close. But then our progress was impeded by another roadblock, this one different than the last. Made of wreckage but had a opening that allowed us to enter but we had to leave the Mako behind.

"Stay sharp. We don't have any advantage against infantry now," said Shepard.

"Affirmative skipper," I said.

"Just tell me where they are and they'll fall," said Wrex. Tali stayed quiet and hung back covering our rear. As we advanced we ran into several Geth.

"Shit! Damn Geth!" I shouted. I raised my rifle and unleashed the full power of the clip. "Get some!" I shouted, I was quoting the movie "Full Metal Jacket". I reloaded and Tali just shook her head at me.

"Why do you insist on using these relics? They'll get you killed," she said.

"Well least I'll die with honor," I said jokingly.

I popped up and Montgomery said," Warning enemy targets to the left. Warning one is a sniper." I tried to get the sniper but he tagged me first. Thank god for shields though. "I warned you the enemy to the left," said Montgomery.

"Yeah but next time tell me before I get shot," I said. I aimed down the scope and shot the sniper several times. I turned and saw a Geth Destroyer charging me. I raised my rifle and pulled the trigger. Instead came a click rather than bullets. "Ah shit," I said. I threw my rifle off to the side and drew my side arms.

I tried shooting every round but nothing slowed this behemoth down. Tali saved me though, shot it with a sniper rifle. "Told you these things would get you killed," said Tali.

"Yeah but you saved my ass. Besides, its only a minor jam," I said. I ejected the mag and saw I might have to go with a different weapon for the rest of the mission. "Well shit," I said.

"What?" Shepard asked.

"Damn rifle's jammed!" I shouted.

"Well un-jam it then!" he said.

"It'll take to long plus, I've been itching to test something out," I said. I shouldered my rifle and drew an M-14 rifle. This puppy was used by the U.S. Army in the late 20th century to the late 21 first century. Didn't jam as often as the M16 and was accurate up to a thousand yards. With this new weapon I quickly rejoined the fight. We quickly advanced through a major clearing and came to the entrance of the dig site.

"Alright people we don't time. The Geth could be in the process of capturing the Doctor as we speak," said Shepard. We all gave our agreements and were advancing when… a Geth drop ship appeared and deployed three enemy reinforcements. Two snipers and an Armature. We considered ourselves lucky to have cover in the form of two durable crates.

"Damn! We need to take that amature out!" I said. We were trading fire with the snipers while some type of newly arrived wall crawler harassed us as well.

"With what? We don't have any heavy stuff," said Shepard.

"When are you going that I always bring the heavy the stuff?" I asked.

"Uh I don't know cause I just met you a few days ago?" he shouted back.

"Ha-ha-ha. No excuse as my dad always says," I said.

"Whatever it is you got, use it!" shouted Shepard," We can't move with that Amature in the way. No movement no saving doctor, which means I out a damn bullet in your ass if you don't get that thing out of our way and they get the doctor."

"On it chief," I said. I took off my pack and grabbed a couple antique grenades and a clip filled with special bullets. I ejected the mag and slapped in the special one. I put the grenade on the tip of my rifle and ran to the open spot in the middle of the area. I quickly pulled the trigger and sent the grenade flying to the Armature. It hit and exploded, shredding one the enemy snipers nearby. I quickly slapped on another and saw the Armature's "head" glow and fire. "Shit," I said.

The damn thing exploded on the ground in front of me and sent me flying back.

"Shit!" shouted Shepard. He looked and his onboard computer showed that the things shields were down but not for long. "Damn it. Thompson get up man!! Get up!!" shouted Shepard. I raised my head and crawled to my rifle and grabbed it weakly. I rolled over and cycled a new round into the chamber.

"Let's do it for Johnny man," I silently said as I quoted the movie "Outsiders". I pulled the trigger and the grenade went flying. It destroyed the Armature and its last piece of support. I dropped my head as my team ran to me.

"Shit that thing tore him up bad," said Shepard. He keyed his radio and said," Joker we need an extract. High priority. Thompson's hit pretty bad. Have doctor Chakwas ready for him."

"Aye aye commander. Need a replacement team member? Mike's chewing at the bit to go on the mission. Plus you might need more than just two other people with Thompson out," said Joker.

"Alright get Mike ready. Tell him close quarters and medium range weapons for this one," said Shepard.

"Affirmative. Normandy touching down for quick drop off and pick up. Just make sure the L.Z.'s clear," said Joker.

"Will do," said Shepard. Joker brought the Normandy down and Mike offloaded while Williams and Garrus carried me aboard. Chakwas quickly went to work on my wounds and had me operational in a couple hours. Unfortunately I missed the whole of the mission. I still had to go to debriefing though. Apparently the Prothean ruins were destroyed, and the explosion wasn't caused by me this time.

"Uh commander next time let's not try to land in a volcanic crater of burning hot lava. They tend to fry our sensors and melt our hull, just for future reference," said Joker.

"Duly noted Joker. We'll try to land in an actual volcano so Thompson can drop you into it," said Mike. Wrex laughed at the idea of a human throwing another into lava.

"We almost died in there and your men are making jokes?" the doctor asked. I had forgotten we'd been able to rescue the doctor.

"Take it easy Liara, just helps ease the tension," said Shepard.

"Oh must be a human thing I guess," Liara said.

"Yeah so then Mike's constant saying that my rifle is going to wind up disintegrating in the heat of combat, just means he's trying to be a comedian? Huh, could've fooled me," I said.

"I still say you should trade that thing in for something more modern, modern day rifles tend to jam less and allow us to have more ammo," said Tali. She was still berating me on the fact she had to save my butt today because my weapon jammed.

"Alright stop the complaining, Thompson how you holding up after the blast you took you from the Armature?" Shepard asked.

"Pretty good. Only took some of the shock wave from the blast. I should be able to stay alive for now. Besides Geth don't use shrapnel any more, no does except me apparently. So unless I took it to the chest or something like that I live," I said.

"Are you sure Tex? I'd take a few missions off if I were you," said Tali.

"Nah, Saren aint going to take a day off just cause I got jarred, I'll answer the call of duty whenever Shepard calls me. But thanks for your concern Tali," I said.

"Oooh. Be careful chief, looks like the Quarian has a little crush on you. Better by on the look out for her stalking you," Mike said jokingly.

"Mike either shut up or I'll hire Wrex to kick yer ass or just do it myself," I said.

"Thompson, ease up on the guy I'm sure he's just kidding with you," said Shepard.

"Roger that sir. Just hate having to sit out on a mission where my team needed me and then sent to the doc for soaking up a shockwave from an explosion. Thought I'd get laid out by a bullet or laser not a shock wave," I said.

"I know marine but I didn't think I'd make it out of Akuze but look what happened to me. I ended up a spectre," said Shepard.

"Good point sir. Lets hope something like that turns out for me," I said.

"Great but what about the doctor?" Wrex asked.

"Well I'm a bit shaken up but I'm alright otherwise," said Liara.

"Good to hear, as for everyone else dismissed," said Shepard.

"Mission report's away commander. Want me to connect you to the council?" said Joker. We all filed out and Shepard was debriefed by the council. Tali checked up on me and I revealed something Monty had only just know discovered while he was transferred to Shepard's helmet. Apparently the Geth had gotten lazy with their comms. There were several new Intel items we had gathered but the most interesting was regarding a terminal on Feros.

Feros, as we had already been told, was under Geth attack but we knew nothing about their operations there. But according to the transmissions they were keeping a piece of info there. Guess she had another reason to go on the op. and keep Monty online. We had one hell of a fight at Feros though, according to the info, close to three companies worth of Geth were already there, maybe more too. But hopefully we'd get through it, alive though not through a body bag. All in a days work for Shepard though.


	4. Chapter 4: Feros

Chapter 4: Feros and bad news

Took us about three days to get to Feros, but we made our way there at least. The last census showed that the former Prothean colony had close to over a thousand colonists. But we heard that a lot of people were killed once the Geth hit. The Exo-geni H.Q. was among the first places to fall. Now only a small contingent of colonists from the main colony on Feros were left. As for Exo-geni personnel though, we had no damned clue as to that. Now I was getting my "outdated" rifles cleaned as we headed for the planet. This time if Shepard took me with him all I had to worry about was falling off the bridges connecting Exo-geni H.Q. with Zhu's Hope, the main colony on Feros.

"Thompson, you got a minute?" Shepard asked.

"Huh? Oh of course skipper, what do you need?" I asked.

"Looking for personal inquiry, and getting to know the crew better too. You sure you holding up from that blast?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah, just a minor concussion brought on by the hard dirt plus I'm pretty much used to those beatings. I took a lot training growing up, even with being on a starship," I said.

"Really? Enlighten me," Shepard said.

"Alright, well back on Earth I took up karate, Okinawin Shorin Ryu and Chinese white crane boxing. Plus played a lot of football. Damn near broke a few bones my second year too, would've ruined everything for me but I pulled through," I said. Then I looked at my still half empty clip from Eden Prime.

"Hey Thompson you alright?" Shepard asked. He waved his hand in front my face and followed my gaze to my clip. "Uh you want me to load that for you?" he asked.

"No, just keeping it like that so I can use the last of them to make up for my mistake on Eden Prime," I said. Tali was walking by and overheard us.

"Mistake?" Shepard asked.

"Saren put one bullet in my gut; I was still conscious and had half a clip remaining. But instead of trying to save my team, I let Saren kill them. Maybe… maybe they'd still be here had I taken the shot. Sure I would've been killed but I would've helped to try and save some marines. I let my team die there commander, now I'm desperately trying to make up for that mistake. Going on this mission with you may provide me with that very chance," I said.

"Don't let that eat away at you marine. There's no way you could've known that would happen. Now you've got a new life and new chance at this, plus with Tali-" said Shepard.

"Damn it have you been talking with Mike again? I swear I'm going to kill him," I said. Shepard laughed at that and explained that my A.I. was the one who thought it up. "What? Note to self, short circuit A.I.," I said.

"Operations Chief, must I remind you once more of the possible consequences if you attempt to do that?" Monty said.

"Man, I need to update your humor skills or something Monty, I hate making a crack at A.I.s and then you telling me all these rules and regs," I grumbled.

"Well you, Mike and Garrus are going in as a separate team. Tali, Wrex and I will go in as the assault squad. We'll try to distract Geth forces as much as possible while you get in and find out what Saren wants here. In the mean time we'll also help out around the colony, see if we can't help out some. You meet up with any other survivor groups, I want to be notified A.S.A.P," said Shepard.

"Affirmative skipper. What's the load?" I asked.

"The what?" Shepard asked.

"How much heavy stuff do we bring? Go in light and stealthy or go in heavy with guns blazing?" I asked.

"Heavy, but make sure to move fast as well. Apparently the Geth have deployed Armatures and heavy troops all along the bridges," said Shepard. He was about to leave when he put in," oh and try not to get blown up again. Got no time dragging yer ass out of the fray."

"Ha-ha-ha, yeah I'll do my best," I said. I put my rifles back together and stowed them. _Was going to need something heavier than these, _I thought to myself. I looked through my personal stock and found just the thing. I grabbed the RPD and two Desert Eagles. I slapped on an ACOG scope for the RPD and pulled out some grenades, one semtex and frag grenades. Also grabbed four blocks of C-4 incase we needed to blow something up. I ran into Tali on the way to the garage, just outside my quarters too.

"Oh hi Thompson, sorry about bumping into you. I was uh headed back to the engineering deck," she said.

"Really? Uh me too. Going to get Garrus and Mike ready. We're going in as the infiltration team," I said.

"Oh well uh why not we go there together the garage and engineering room aren't far apart," said Tali.

"Sure, I mean if it's alright with you," I said. We walked to the elevator and endured some awkward silence time. The damned elevator was taking too long to descend. "So uh, how long you been on your pilgrimage?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh not long actually. About two or three months," she said.

"Really? That's a pretty short time," I said. I decided to try and break the ice some more and said," you know there's actually people back on earth who go pilgrimages," I said.

"Really? Do they need to get accepted to a ship too?" Tali asked. She sounded intrigued.

"No not really. But with some, in way. Most pilgrimages are for religious folk, Islamic people for example. They travel to a place in the Middle East for acceptance from God or something. Others pretty much to teach a lesson. The Amish people send their children to a city for their pilgrimage to seek new things. Amish don't exactly use any of the technology like most people do. They'll send their kids to the city so they learn how different it is and let them decide something," I said.

"What is that something?" Tali asked.

"Return to their village if they find city life repulsive or degrading or stay in the city to start a new life. Some go back and some don't. But they understand, hell I've got some friends who are of Amish descent," I said.

"Wow, I never knew about that. So do you want to know about my people?" she asked.

"Yeah sure why not? Might be interesting," I said.

"Well in my people's traditions our pilgrimages are meant to help our species survive. Many will bring back a ship or a mineral that's needed to repair something. I however want to bring something back that'll help us immensely, not some cast away ship or rock," she said.

"Man sounds like you're trying to prove something," I said. The elevator stopped and the doors opened up.

"Yes that's because my father is an admiral," she said before leaving me with Garrus.

"Well for someone who's not into Quarians you hurt your case right there," said Garrus.

"Yeah. Heard Radar's going to have some mail for us in a bit. Maybe you'll get lucky and your girl leaves you. Make you available to go out with Tali," said Mike.

"Yeah well we're shit out of luck on that marines. Commander's got us designated as an infiltration team. Once we reach the Highway, Shepard and his team will help any group of survivors we come across. We've got the job of going into the H.Q. and nabbing any juicy info that rears its head. We go in heavy and need to move fast," I said. That drew a groan from Mike.

"I'm guessing you volunteered us for that," he said.

"Nope. Much as I want to take credit for that I can't. Shepard's ordering us guys. But we'll need to procure a vehicle once we're groundside," I said. Shepard's going to use the Mako while we use something a little speedier. Hopefully in pretty good shape," I said.

"Great let's get ready then. Hey Supply guy! Got anything in the heavy weapons department?" Mike shouted. I rolled my eyes at Mike and went over to engineering. I wanted to know a little more about Tali, including the fact that she mentioned her dad being and admiral. But Shepard stopped this because we were about to dock.

Joker brought the Normandy in easy and allowed us off board. We were met by a colonist who told us to go and meet guy named Fai Dan, their leader apparently. Before we could any more info though, he got hit by a Geth laser rifle.

"Damn! Thought outside the dock was the colony. How did the Geth get through," I asked.

"Maybe they hot dropped 'em in to take us out," said Mike.

"Less talk more fight!" shouted Wrex.

"Roger that. Rock and Roll time Bitches!!" I shouted. I put my RPD on a chunk of granite and began firing. Hot lead poured out the barrel and took out the Geth's shields and ripped into them. "Come on get some!!" I shouted.

"Keep it up!" Shepard shouted. A sniper tried to take a shot at me but was eliminated by Mike. After five minutes of sustained fire, all Geth were dead and I hadn't changed clips.

"Never knew an RPD to have so much ammo," Tali said.

"When it comes to Tex he always has a little something up his sleeve. Guy has all of his guns augmented in some way. RPD follows the Sturmgewehr ammo system, small bullets means lots of bullets per clip or belt in this case. Surprised he didn't go with the M60 for this one," Mike explained.

"Why the M60?" Shepard asked.

"The tips have bits of pressure detonated XV-12 demo charges. Packs a helluva punch," I said," But I decided to go with amount of bullets rather than firepower, which sounds stupid once I said it aloud."

"Yeah no kidding but hey we still got a bit of firepower," said Wrex.

"Yeah you guys got the Mako, we still got to find us a vehicle for our trek across the bridge," I said.

"Maybe we'll find something similar or something," Tali said.

"Well right now let's find this Fai Dan and get moving," said Shepard. We walked through the colony and saw the everyone trying to get the colony back up and running. Water was almost gone and they needed power. And according to one of their guys, some Alpha Varren was tearing up hunting parties. We found Fai Dan at the other end of the colony. He was about to give us a run down of the situation but was interrupted by Geth.

We helped out in repelling them but were unable to save a colonist. We pushed further into the tower and repelled even more Geth who had breached outer colonial defenses. After another firefight in this tower we reported back to Fai Dan and we told us as much as he could about what happened here. Geth came in uninvited as always and next thing the colonists knew was the fact that Geth soldiers were slaughtering them. Exo-geni H.Q. fell in the initial assault and Zhu's Hope is barely hanging on by their nails.

"Well my infiltration team is about to hit them where hurts, the Exo-geni H.Q. Unfortunately I planned for two separate teams, the infiltration team and my assault team. You got an extra working vehicle around?" Shepard asked.

"Hmm, we do but I'm not sure if you'll want it. When we made landfall, Exo-geni couldn't afford all the new ground vehicles that the other colonies have but we do have an extremely old M-8 Greyhound from the second world war on Earth," Fai Dan said.

"Wait, an actual M-8 Greyhound? I know how to drive one, so we'll take it," I said.

"Alright, east we can do to help. There's ammo for the main gun and machine guns already in it. Its over in the garage. Go through the tower, and take the elevator. There you'll find the Normandy's Mako and the Greyhound waiting. Good luck and be careful. It's a real bitch to drive on the bridges especially with those tanks on you," Fai Dan said.

"Thanks for the tank. Thompson's going to have a hay day in that thing. He's a bit old fashioned. Hell if he wanted to die faster he'd use flintlocks and single shots," Shepard jokingly said. That drew chuckles from everyone including me since it was true, more or less any way. "Thompson move it out. Radio in if you find anything," Shepard said.

"And don't try radioing that you've found the love of your life and her name is Tali," Mike said jokingly.

"Mike I swear we make it out of here alive, I'm going to kill you… slowly," I said.

"Ooooh now I'm really shaking. Come on let's just get the car and go," Mike said.

"It aint a car, it's a tank. There's a distinct difference," I said.

"Yeah yeah. By the way I got dibs on the turret," said Mike.

"Like you'd be able to drive the M-8," I said. Tali was barely able to conceal a chuckle about out argument here. No on but me noticed that. "Come on the damned Geth aren't going to wait for us. I say it's high time we kick ass," I said.

"We've been kicking ass," Mike said as we jogged toward the elevator.

"Not in combat sim. Jackass," I said. Shepard nearly burst out laughing at that. So did Wrex and Tali. Garrus barely had time to laugh as we picked up our pace. For a while Shepard and the assault team helped out the colony while Garrus, Mike and I ran the gauntlet. Armatures every where and supported by infantry.

"Damn! We got these assholes every where!" Mike shouted.

"Well get to wasting them Jackass!" I shouted back.

"What the fuck do you think I'm doing!?! Taking a nap? It not very easy to target these fuckers with you driving like a damn psycho. I was lucky to nail those two half a block ago," Mike said.

"Shut up or nut up marine. Those are your only two choices here. Shut up and shoot or start shooting and yelling. Pick one and live with it," I said. The assault team was listening in and kept breaking in laughter at our banter we passed back and forth. Then we shaped up as we began to intercept a civilian transmission. "Commander, this is Thompson. Picking up a transmission near our position. Sector twelve gird eight. Be advised, may be survivors from Exo-geni given our distance from the damned place. Will radio the survivors of your eventually arrival. Don't keep them waiting chief. We'll be bout three or so blocks from the Exo-geni place by the time you get there," I said.

"Roger that. Any resistance we should expect?" Shepard asked.

"We took out a few armatures a ways back and some infantry but the Geth could've reinforced. Stay on yer toes and stay frosty. Infiltration team out," I said.

"Roger assault team out. Alright Tali and Wrex we're heading out. Infiltration team found some refugees. We're going to see if they need help. Pack up and move out," Shepard said.

"Bout time we go somewhere. Had enough of this sitting around. Lets go kick some synthetic ass," Wrex said. They headed for the elevator and entered it. After a short elevator ride, they boarded the Mako and drove to the coordinates of the refugees. As they drove they found a lot of damage and very few Geth. "Damn it. Next I'm going with Thompson, least he gets to fight multiple Geth," Wrex said.

The Mako sped up and they eventually came upon the camp. There were certainly civvies here. "Infiltration this is assault we've reached the camp, how you guys doing?" Shepard asked.

"Fine and we just caused a Geth ship to crash. Made one helluva racket. Found some juicy data on some Geth bases too. Might want to check these out once we're done here. By the way expect massive resistance when we get back to Zhu's Hope," I said.

"Why?" Shepard asked. He thought that the Geth had already broken through and were taking up new positions before advancing on the Normandy.

"There's something under the damn place. Something called species 37 I think. Its actually called a Thorian some type of plant life. Takes over people's minds. And it knows we're gunning for it by now," I said.

"Roger we'll ask the group here if they know anything about it. We'll wait for you and then from there we'll go after the Thorian," said Shepard.

"Affirmative oh and hope you knocked out all the remaining Geth cause all we have left in the Greyhound is ammo for the machine gun. We are already in route to the group will link up soon, out," I said. Wrex and Tali could hear the roar of the tank.

"Roger that we hear you approaching. Will be entering the group now," Shepard said.

"Roger pulling in, wait a minute. Oh shit Shepard get in damn place now. Sounds like we got us a mutiny or something. Pulling in now," I said. Shepard saw the Greyhound pull in and it looked like shit. Even Wrex began thinking about my driving skills as unruly.

"Please forgive our vehicles appearance. Geth lasers and Tanks don't exactly have a good outcome nor a pretty one," said Monty.

"Just when I thought you didn't have a sense of humor Monty," I said.

"What joke did I say?" Monty said.

"Oh how I wished you actually meant to tell a joke for once in your life or at least before I fucking die!" I said," which may be sometime during this mission."

"I am sorry Operations Chief, maybe I'll try to make one during this mission. Do my best," said Monty. We all got out and Shepard noticed we had one more team member than when we departed.

"Who's the recruit?" Wrex asked.

"Yeah well we saved her and now she's joining us. Or at least Thompson's side," said Mike. Tali then "looked" a bit disappointed or maybe mistook Mike's meaning.

"Uh not a recruit. Nor is joining any sides. She's a survivor from Exo-geni. She was the one who told us about the Thorian. Right now seems like we are wasting time when we should be helping out in the group and where did the girl go?" I asked. I looked around and noticed the woman go into the little "bunker" off to our right. "Damn it. Wait," I said.

We ran to catch up and she took up position just out of eye sight of the other refugees. We then noticed some sort of argument taking place between two of the refugees. "You can't do this Jeong! You Can't just repurpose us like machines," said a woman.

"Shut up! Just shut up. Let me think for a minute," said Jeong. Upon seeing her mother, she told us about her in the Greyhound, being taken the survivor attempted to stop them.

"Stay away from her you bastard!" she shouted.

"No goddamn it. Stay put!" I said. But she still ran over to the group.

"Ah damn it! Come on out come out where we can see you!!" Jeong shouted. We all came out and unfortunately Jeong was pissed. "You! You must be the soldiers that landed at Zhu's Hope. Well we don't need your help. Communications are back up and we've received new orders. Exo-geni wants this place purged. We're going to repurpose this place," he said.

"What? Are you insane you idiot? Those are civilians you're talking about. They're not machines. That's a bullshit order and you know it!" we all said.

"I know it doesn't right but orders are orders. We must follow them or Exo-geni will terminate our contract with them. We have no other alternative, though I wish we did," Jeong said in reply.

"Well maybe you don't need to do that. Say that the colonists stood up against the Geth and another unidentified life form and won. Call it "Humanity against all odds" or something. Nice peaceful way of saving the colonists while you keep your contract. Win-win for everyone," Shepard said.

"Hmmm, I never thought of that. But you're right we'll use that. Now we won't need to forcefully repurpose these people. Thanks," Jeong said.

"Alright now that that mess is cleaned up what are we going to do about the Thorian? It still has the colonists under its control and god knows what else," I said.

"I thought it was a plant," Shepard asked.

"Right forgot to mention that it has the power to control minds. But other than that, we have no idea what else it has," I said.

"Hmm, I do have a formula Exo-geni had my working. Its essentially a gas that knocks people out. Designed for a grenade off course," said the survivor's mother.

"Alright we'll use that incase the colonists engage us. Firearms are strictly on safety unless we run out of grenades. Once we do, do for disabling shots, arms and legs," Shepard said. The scientist handed us the upgrade and we quickly divided it into our supply of grenades. I even put it in my semtex grenade but removed the C-4 in it so it didn't kill anyone by accident. With our grenades upgraded we left the outpost and headed for the colony. Luckily there were no Geth but unfortunately we ran into something new at the entrance to the colonies garage.

Damn thing looked like a zombie. It pounced on Shepard but Wrex and I were able to pull it off before it did any real damage. Mike put a burst of bullets into it and watched as it blew into pieces.

"Commander, you are all right?" I asked as we helped him up.

"Fine, but what the hell was that thing? Didn't seem human at all," Shepard said.

"It wasn't. It didn't have any distinguishing human marks. My guess, this one of the Thorian's latest surprises. Also I'm pretty sure we can expect more of these fuckers. Mike stay in there and if there are these things in there mow 'em down but keep a watchful eye for colonists," I said.

"Roger that. Mind getting the door?" Mike asked. Shepard hit the button and suddenly we all just dropped our jaws. I called it, there was more of these things. They rose up and began charging. Thankfully there were no colonists so Mike's job was easier right there. He unleashed what was left of the thirty caliber gun's ammo into the damned beasts. Wrex and Shepard held the left flank while Tali and I had the right. But then colonists joined the fight.

"Damnit! Those colonists are going to wind up getting shot," Shepard said.

"Leave that to me," I said. I drew a grenade and threw it over the colonists cover. It blew and sent the unruly militia into a nice little slumber. "unruly bastards sleeping now. But not the dead way, that'd be just over kill," I said. Mike disembarked the greyhound and ran with us as we made our way to the elevator.

"Okay now every one be ready no telling how bad it is with the colonists now, just watch your fire and make sure you use yer gas grenades to incapacitate the civvies. If you have none left, use hand to hand combat. Watch out for more those zombie things," Shepard said.

"You got it chief. We'll shot the zombies while you play hero and watch us die. Or at least watch Jones fie and us laughing at his demise," I said jokingly.

"I think you got that mixed up. I'm pretty sure I'll die while your asking Tali out instead of helping me," mike countered.

"Shut up meat sack," I said.

"Aren't you a meat sack as well then we are the same species after all," Mike said.

"how you two manage to joke around and keep our spirits up is unimaginable," Tali said.

"Years and years of practice. Mike's got the most experience though," I said.

"alright cut it out save the jokes for later. We still got a job here. Thompson once we're done I'll put in a request to command to get you a ship to take you to those outposts you found," Shepard said.

"Outposts?" Tali asked.

"Long story I'll explain it later," I said. The elevator came to a stop and we filed out ever so cautious of the new enemy we had faced just moments ago. And as we neared the colony, we came under fire from colonists.

"Damn, Mike toss a grenade over," Shepard said.

"Ok chief. Want me to pull the pin and then toss it to you and just do it the colonists," mike said jokingly. Tali was right while we constantly made jokes we kept them in line and helped the squad sometimes.

"Them!" Shepard shouted. Mike pulled the pin and threw the grenade. A bright flash followed and the squad of colonists were unconscious. "move it up!" Shepard shouted. We moved forward and engaged more zombies and colonists. I saved my semtex grenade and use my other ones just in case I needed it for something.

It took twenty or thirty minutes to reach the container the survivor had told us about but we made it and saved every colonist along the way. But then Fai Dan showed up.

"It wants me to stop you but I don't want to. I try to fight but it gets in your head. You… just… can't imagine the pain," he said. I had already pulled out my semtex grenade and pulled the pin. While he rambled on I tossed it and stuck him. "these people trusted me, they wanted me to protect them. But I failed them, I didn't see it coming fast enough but I still didn't stop it. It wants me to stop you but I won't," he said. He had drawn his gun and was pointing it at us. "I WON'T!!" he shouted. He was about to shoot himself but then the grenade went off and knocked him out.

I checked him and found him still alive. _No need for someone to kill themselves for something they couldn't ever see,_ I thought. Mike had raised the ship and we descended into the abyss. I was going to make this son of bitch plant pay for this. We found the thing with little effort, mainly because it wasn't what we had expected.

"uh big plant," Mike said.

"Guess we'll need more firepower to bring this fucker down," I said.

"Sirs, I have detected several structures protruding from the Thorian and have determined that the destruction of these should cause the creature to fall and die. The C-4 Chief Thompson brought should be exactly what we need to accomplish this," Monty said.

"good Thompson get to work," Shepard said.

"Aye, aye commander," I said. As I walked toward one the highlighted tentacle things in the wall, and Asari commando jumped me and took me hostage.

"Shit! Tex!" Mike shouted.

"I speak for the old one and say that your journey ends here. You are not the only flesh creature to arrive, the one known as Saren came as well. He attempted to kill me once I had given him exactly what he needed. The cipher, essential for understanding the vision he had on the planet called Eden Prime," said the commando.

"put the man down. Now before we put a bullet in your head," Shepard said. _Wrong choice of words buddy_, I thought.

"'Put him down'? what a great idea," the commando said. She took her knife and brought on the unprotected part of my neck. She dug into my skin and dragged the knife sideways, tearing and cutting skin. I felt my blood begin to spill out as the knife stopped following a gunshot from Tali. The commando died and let me go.

"Shit, shit, shit. Not good, not good," Mike said. I was desperately trying to stop the bleeding and Mike stabbed my arm with a painkiller which slowed my breathing and blood flow.

"we got to get him to the ship," Shepard said.

"I'll take him," Wrex said," no way this warrior is dying before me."

"Wait the C-4. Thompson still has the C-4," said Mike. I motioned to my pack and Wrex tossed it to our team. Garrus caught it and fished out the demo charges. Wrex was already half way inside the airlock telling Joker to open up. Joker seeing the trouble opened the door and Wrex ran me down to the Med lab. Once again I was out of the fight, this time I lasted a bit longer though. Liara and Chakwas quickly began fixing me up and were successful even though I now had a nasty scar.

Shepard and the rest of the team were successful in saving the colony and Fai Dan even let us have the Greyhound. Small thing to do to thank me for saving his life even if he didn't want saving. Shepard didn't expect me to be at the debriefing but was slightly impressed, not easy to come back from a knife wound to the neck. But we were able to get the cipher thanks to the real Asari that was sacrificed by Saren to obtain it. She wanted Shepard to pass along her apologies for nearly killing me. I didn't hold it against her though hard to keep your sanity when you're clone is being driven by a homicidal plant. Liara melded with Shepard's mind to help him make sense of the vision but unfortunately he had only partials of the true vision. Radar came in with the mail and passed it out.

He gave me mine and Mike made another crack about my Girlfriend leaving me. I tried to shake it off but the letter showed that he was right. My girl, the one who promised to wait for me, was leaving me. Apparently being light years away was a strain on our relationship. She was leaving me for some rich guy, a bank manager. His family were rich mothers to boot. I left the letter on my chair and stormed out of the comm. room, to angry to say anything.

"Hey looks like Thompson walked out on us Shep, I say we bag and tag him," Mike said jokingly.

"Guess he got some bad news in his letter or something," said Radar.

"Well read it then. See what's up," Garrus said.

"What? He'll hit me. Plus that's a violation of regulations. I could get court martialed," Radar said.

"Well just say we ordered you too. Can't disobey orders," Mike said.

"oh oh ok I'll read it," Radar said. He picked up the letter and silently read it. "Oh shit," he said simply.

"what?" Shepard asked.

"Uh its his girlfriend sirs. She's left him for… a banker? That doesn't even make sense," said Radar.

"Radar forget sense, that's not right. Tex doesn't deserve to be left, let alone for a damn banker. Now we can expect Thompson to be doing everything in his power to more or less get himself killed. This mission will provide him those opportunities too," mike said.

"Great just what he needs. First he gets his throat slit and now his girl leaves him. Wonder how this'll turn out," Kaiden said.

"Hmm normally I don't care about this type of thing but I gotta agree with you guys. Not right she broke up with him through a letter. A letter! Should've faced him rather than this, damned coward," said Wrex.

"Maybe I could talk to him, he seems calm around me," Tali suggested.

"Yeah, yeah maybe your right. Worth a shot too, what have we got to lose?" Mike asked.

"I agree. Tali go and do whatever it is that needs to be done here," Shepard said. Tali left and everyone else was dismissed. She found me taking my anger out on some things in my cabin. I threw some old experiments I was working on into a wall and nearly snapped a rifle in two.

"Hey you alright?" She asked.

"No I'm not. My damned girl left me for a banker!" I said.

"Well for what it's worth I think that she was wrong to do that. I also heard Shepard is recommending you for a medal, a Purple Heart for that nasty cut. I think she'll want to claw her back to you once this mission is done with. You know us being hero's and all," Tali said.

"Yeah but now… now I'm alone. Up against impossible odds with nothing to fight for. I might as well to shoot myself right now," I said.

"You do and then I'll do it too. You're not alone, least not for long. I could find some time to help you with your projects. Plus you still need to tell me about those outposts. But mostly cause I'll have you to myself. No damned back stabber to ruin what might blossom between us," Tali said. I looked at her curiously and her body language meant she was serious about what she said.

I felt a simile grow and said," I'd like Tali. And well I hope something does blossom." She didn't have anything to say and left saying "see you later." I went about trying to clean up my mess. Now all that was left was Noveria. With a new friend I had to become more than friends, hopefully I was more interested in surviving my mission.

* * *

A/N: thanks to all who do read this but please review it and give some ideas for the upcoming missions. But stick to the game's story as much as possible.


	5. Chapter 5: Noveria and the Geth outposts

Chapter 5: Noveria and the Geth outposts

Noveria, nothing but snow and ice. Only thing there was a damned spaceport and a few research facilities. But for a reason to actually come here to this godforsaken rock was merely business trade set up on the damned place. But fortunately for me I wasn't going on the rock. Because of my wound, I was ordered to stay aboard until further notice. Mike was ordered to do the same as well. He and I were joined by Radar in a friendly game of poker. We merely played for pennies but we couldn't have any drinks at the game.

Primarily because of my wound, Doc said consuming alcohol would be rather bad for a type of wound like this on my neck. Now the whole mission turned to shit in an instant. But with Tali getting in on the game with us it got a whole lot better. Unfortunately she turned out to be a better poker player than she let on. Before she joined the game's outcome swung between Mike, Radar and I. but now she was taking us to the cleaners, so to speak.

Damned game drew just about everyone on the ship to watch even Joker came to watch. After several games of Texas Hold 'Em, Mike and Radar busted for stretching their limits on their pay. My on the other hand had enough money to lose and then some. Joker was actually dealing the cards out towards the end of our series of matches. "Alright people time to see who wins this one. Will it be our own Operations Chief Thompson or Tali'Zorah nar Rayya?" Joker asked.

If there was one thing about playing poker against a Quarian in which they reigned supreme was the fact that they had those suits to hide their face expressions, the perfect Poker Face some called it. I on other hand just watched in clear patience waiting for her slip up. If my dad had taught anything about waging any type of battle, whether in combat or a game, it was a massive advantage to keep a cool head and be patient to the max. Joker delivered the flop after Tali and I had bet, twenty credits each. A king, ten and an eight were on the table. I had an ace of hearts and a queen of spades. To my luck, the king of spades and ten of spades in the flop gave me a slight edge. I let a small and concealed smile tug at the corner of my mouth.

She didn't seem to be worried, maybe she had something of her own up her sleeve, but then again I couldn't see into her mask. So for all I knew she was really nervous and didn't show it physically. Tali bet thirty credits and I bet thirty five. Joker delivered the Turn and revealed a single two of hearts. _Damn so close and yet so far,_ I thought. Tali bet twice the original amount of credits she had just bet. I easily matched it. But unfortunately that meant she had a better hand. I tried to push it out but it bit at the back of my mind. Then came the River, the final card to be drawn. The River was a Joker of spades. I thought I had victory in my hands.

Joker had me reveal my cards first, I had a flush. But Tali, she had a Royal Flush. An Ace, Queen, King, Ten and Joker of Spades wiped the floor with my flush. Tali took the pot, a total of about hundred or so credits and felt triumphant. She had beaten me at my own game. I could only smile back at her fortune. Once everyone had left, I decided to challenge Tali to one more game.

"Tali. How's about one more game? But we up the stakes," I said. She sat back down and was intrigued.

"Alright. What are they?" she asked.

"I win, I get to "assist" you whenever," I said. She giggled and thought that thought mighty funny.

"What if I win?" she asked.

"Whatever you want," I said. She agreed to the terms and shuffled the cards. She dealed the cards and we found ourselves in a game of patience out witting or something like that. I dealed the Flop and had drawn a ten of diamonds, an eight of hearts and two of clubs. I had a nine diamonds and a eight of diamonds.

Tali drew the Turn and produced another eight of spades. I thought that I might get away with a three of a kind. I drew the River and a seven of diamonds. I revealed my cards first and was dumbfounded when I saw Tali's were a nine and six of hearts. Once again I was beaten this time with a lousy three-of-a-kind against a Straight.

"You win again," I said. She pushed her cards and sighed contently. Beat a human multiple times in a row was a pretty sight for her. I could only imagine the smile on her face now. "So what do you want?" I asked.

"Well those outposts you mentioned?" she said. _Bingo hotshot,_ I thought. I was at the same time relieved and disappointed by her choice. "I wouldn't mind joining you on that job. But I also expect to be able to gather some type of data from the bases," she said.

"Done. Once Shepard gets back I'll ask him and we'll head out there," I said. I stood and collected my hat. "but in the mean time, I'd better get back to work on my weapon enhancements. If you've got any weapons you want improved, I'd be happy to do so," I said with a smile.

"Not right now but I'd love to help you," she said. I smiled and we walked to my cabin slash lab. The damned thing was neatly ship shape only, the table remained dirty. I went over to where I had my trusty M-16 disassembled and began to tweak the rate of fire it had.

"Feel free to look around if you'd like. Most of what I do is pretty easy for me," I said. She walked around the room and noticed my half empty clip.

"Failed to refill a primitive clip huh?" she asked.

"Uh yes and no," I said.

"What?" she asked.

"I'm uh well saving that for when we face Saren. It's still got a few bullets in it and it want to use those to… 'avenge' the death of my Brothers in arms," I said. I went back to work to improving my rifle.

"Brothers in Arms?" Tali asked.

"Basically where we've got friendships so deep, it's like yer brothers or something. My guess the in arms part is because you're such good buddies you'll carry him out in your arms if he can't move. My dad did that with a friend of his. Lucky bastard still sends him letters saying thanks for the help," I said. She noticed the picture of my old squad, before Eden Prime.

"I guess this was when you were still in Basic?" she asked.

I looked up and said," Yeah. Just before we were told to ship out. Last time I ever really saw my brother and sister. They're both army though. Joined up long before I did. My dad was more concerned about me though," I said.

"why?" she asked.

"Cause, I was the only Thompson who didn't want to sign up," I said.

"What? And here you are now?" Tali asked.

"Yeah I know. Wanted to be a doctor more than anything at first. Wanted to save lives. Wasn't until an accident in my School when I finally wanted to join," I said.

"What happened?" she asked. She was obviously concerned.

"Damned terrorists, killed the security guards and took the whole place over. After some odd days of being held hostage, we were eventually saved. Marines from the Eighth Infantry came in and rescued us. The way they preformed with such efficiency was astounding. So I decided to enlist after High School, went through a shit load of training numerous jobs in the military, screwing up each one along the way," I said.

"And why did you become infantry, or how?" Tali asked.

"That botched mission I mentioned? When that Quarian ran for it, I fought the Batarians off as best as I could. at the time my team had all of its members still alive. We just got hit and the Quarian ran for it. Unfortunately by the time I had our bomb disabled, there were four of us dead, two wounded," I said.

"And then?" Tali asked.

"Batarians outflanked us and killed our wounded and also five other guys. I got them with a burst of fire from my M-76 Revenant," I said.

"Revenant? that uses thermal sensors though. I thought you used old rifles?" Tali asked.

"Wasn't until that day. thing was overheated to the max and was a bitch to cool down. while it cooled, the damned aliens flanked the rest of my team and killed them. I ditched the gun and drew my great grandfathers pistol," I said. I pulled out a revolver and said," this was the gun I had to rely on. unfortunately it only had six bullets and there was about eight of them. I still was able to kill all of them. But soon as the officers and everyone else heard, I get thrown into Infantry," I said.

"Wow. that's pretty amazing," Tali said.

"Yeah but not to my dad. He's been in that scenario numerous times and he was able to get his men out, all of them alive," I said.

"Oh guess you had a bad childhood huh?" she asked.

"Wasn't all bad. Had quite a few friends and a pretty good life," I said. I smiled as I looked back on my early life. "But with dad away on different missions all of the time, I couldn't quite ask his advice all of the time," I said.

"Huh sounds like my life. My father was always working in the Migrant Fleet," Tali said. I looked at her but before I could I say anything Joker was calling me up to the bridge.

"Damnit. Alright I'll be up there in a couple minutes," I said.

"Uh actually the call you might want to take from the comm room. Cause the guy sounds like he's pissed off," Joker said.

"Great that can only mean one person," I said.

"Your father?" Tali asked.

"Yep unfortunately," I said. I left and Tali quickly headed back for engineering. I walked into the comm room and activated the unit.

"Ah Operations Chief Thompson. I'm glad you've finally decided to take my call," said a voice.

"Ah stow it dad. What the hell do you want this time?" I asked.

"How about you drop this damned charade and head back to Alliance Space for your next assignment. You have to get back here now," he said.

"Sorry pop. Can't do that," I said.

"Why not?" he asked seething with anger.

"First cause I have a pretty bad neck wound, and doc says I have to stay onboard for right now. Got it slit in cause you're curious. Second of all this is my post. Captain Anderson got me transferred to Commander Shepard's crew," I said.

"Well I'm ordering you to get back here," he said.

"sir unless my Omni-tool informs me of a transfer of station, I don't go anywhere," I said. I smiled at this because I knew he hadn't gotten my a transfer.

"Or a superior officer orders you to leave," he said. He thought he had found a loop hole.

"But that order is quickly denied since I am part of a high priority mission on behalf of the council. Commander Shepard, as you may or may not know, is the first human spectre. And now has a mission to track and capture Ex-Spectre Saren Arterius. Until this mission is over as the fact its been labeled high priority by the council, I can not leave my current commanding officer. So unless you get a damned transfer order I ain't moving," I said.

"Fine but wary Tex, you may be my son but you are Alliance and I can get assigned to a shit storm in flash. Admiral Thompson out," he said.

"understood sir, Operations Chief Thompson out," I said. I turned to leave but Shepard was standing right behind me. I didn't even hear the door open. "Commander sir," I said saluting.

"At ease marine. How you holding up?" Shepard asked.

"Uh pretty good sir. Mike, Radar and I were beat by Tali in Texas hold 'em but otherwise I'm a okay," I said.

"Everything alright with you and your dad?" he asked.

"Uh no sir. Apparently he thrilled on the idea of his son working with aliens on Alliance property. Guess he feels that a high ranking man like himself should be on board and commanding the Alliance's first stealth ship. Doesn't like the fact that a low ranking member of the Thompson Family working on such a ship too much either. But that's all between me and him sir. Don't want you in it either. But after this missions over, don't expect to spend too much time on board. I have a feeling that he'll get me transferred one way or the other," I said.

"don't worry. We still got a ways before the jobs over. Plus I got a friend of mine to take you and Tali into the system with those Geth outposts. Don't worry, he's not a friend of your dad so this way he can't take our team apart," Shepard said.

"Thanks Shepard. Good to get off the Normandy, maybe this time I won't get my throat slit. Or blown up," I said jokingly.

"Ha-ha. Very funny Thompson. Get ready and tell Tali to get ready as well. Wrex is going too," Shepard said.

"Good to hear sir. May need some extra firepower as well," I said. The rest of the infantry group filed in for debriefing.

"Listen up. Tex and Tali have a mission to take care of in the Armstrong Nebula. Seems the Geth have been up to no good there. While they take care of that, we'll head back to the citadel for some R&R. however should Tali or Tex feel the need not to go on this mission, we'll have the alliance take care of the problem," said Shepard.

"Commander, this could be the information I need for my pilgrimage, I will not let some Alliance soldiers take what could help my people. I will go," said Tali.

"Same here Shepard. Being cooped up in this ship was bad enough. But too let some Nancy nobodies take my Intel and get the glory I wouldn't stand for it. Count me in this Op.," I said.

"Alright. Wrex you're going with them. I know how killing Geth might be your style. You three get ready. The SSV Warsaw will be by momentarily to pick you up and head for the Armstrong Nebula. Dismissed," Shepard said. Everyone filed out and Shepard contacted the council to debrief them. I got my assortment of weapons ready while Tali and Wrex got theirs ready as well. Mike was joshing around about having R&R while I went and fought a shit load of Geth.

I keenly reminded him on how I'd be getting shit ton's of medals while all he got was time to relax. While I got honor he got rusty. He rolled his eyes at the thought and didn't seem really worried.

"Man it ain't all about glory and whatnot. Sometimes you just got to relax. You know what I mean. but hell if you're going in with that Quarian chick all alone, who knows what'll happen," Mike said with a smug smile.

I looked at him and said," Mike, you got one smutty as hell mind."

"Ha-ha. Maybe Tex maybe. But guess we'll have to find out," he said. I walked to the airlock and heard Joker making the announcement that the Warsaw had docked and was waiting for the team to board and head into the Armstrong Nebula. Tali was just exiting the elevator with Wrex when the announcement filtered through the speakers. The airlock opened and we boarded the Warsaw. The ship departed and headed into the Mass Relay while the Normandy headed back for the Citadel. The wait was too much for Wrex and by the time we entered the Nebula, he was already headed for a Mako.

Now time to go to work. Four systems of Geth and lots of targets. The Warsaw entered the Hong system and entered an orbit around Casbin. They dropped us off in a Mako and stayed on standby for support. We accelerated the Mako to the Geth outpost and attacked. At first it seemed like an easy place to hit, had only snipers and rocket troops. Though the rocket troopers gave us a bit of hell, we were able to mop up a lot quicker than originally planned. But then as fate would have it, a Geth drop ship came out and began deploying numerous Geth soldiers. While they were easily defeated, they just kept pouring out.

Wrex was having one hell of a time using the gun to mow the Geth down. Tali kept the hull in shape as best she could while I drove the Mako to keep the Geth from having a sitting target. Lucky for us though the Warsaw deployed a small squad of fighters to intercept the drop ship. The thing went down in a ball of flames. Thank god for our flyboys.

We went through the other three systems and found one outpost per system. But none seemed to be their main base of Operations. Luckily Tali found another signal emitting from the Grissom system. We went there and found the base heavily guarded. Numerous Geth infantry and two Geth Colossi. The Colossus was a heavier version of the Armature.

"So how are we going to do this?" Tali asked. This was the first time we were thinking this part of the mission through, the assault part.

"Well we could charge in guns blazing but then it would be a bloodbath with us dead," Wrex said.

"Hmm. Can't call in air support, fighters will tear the building a new one and damage any Intel inside. But I got an idea. Wrex move over that way," I said pointing to our right. "Move about twenty or so feet that way and be ready to give us some support. Tali I'm expecting you to cover me. I'll head down to the building a give the Colossi something to watch," I said. I ran over to the base as Wrex got ready and Tali fumbled with the sniper rifle.

I readied my rocket launcher and waited for the first signal. Wrex Fired his rifle and got one the snipers. I aimed at the nearest Colossi and fired. The RPG flew and struck the thing, wiping out its shields. I quickly loaded another and fired. I was promptly awarded with a smoldering explosion.

"Yeah. Take that you bucket of bolts," I said. I loaded my RPG and aimed for the second Colossus. Unfortunately it was charging it's main weapon. "Ah not again," I said. I jumped behind the smoldering remains of the Colossus just as the weapon fired. "Damn fucking Geth. I'll kill the lot of them," I said. I popped back up and aimed down the sights and fired. I reached to pull out another rocket but unfortunately the last one fell out when I dived for cover. "Madre de dios," I said.

I leaned out and saw the last rocket lying there, right in the open. Montgomery quickly informed me of the small window of opportunity we had before the thing started to recharge its shields. I ran out, grabbed the rocket and loaded in the tube. I barely had time to load it but to fire it, I needed luck. Thankfully, I had better, I had my squad. Wrex and Tali put a lot of fire from the position as I loaded. The Colossus marked them the real threat while the real threat was loading up right in front of it. I aimed and fired. The rocket blew the head of the Colossus clean off. The Mako drove up and Tali and Wrex chewed me out for my assault. Or at least Tali did anyway.

Said it was reckless and stupid, while Wrex congratulated me on the effective use of my old guns. I told Tali I understood but also explained it was the only way to knock out those damned Colossi without constantly having to maneuver the Mako during the fight. We went to the door and hit the switch. We entered and found the first room clear. We stacked up on the second door and opened it. Inside were a multiple of Geth. They opened fire at us and began to take up defensive positions.

"Great those tin cans got us out gunned and out numbered," Wrex said.

"Yeah but we outsmart them. I've got an idea," I said.

"Please tell me this won't involve you charging out there like an idiotic Bosh'tet," Tali said.

"Uh no but, it does have a lot of Geth feeling like idiotic Bosh'tets," I said. I drew a couple fragmentation grenades and tossed them into the other room. "Wait for it, wait for it," I said.

"Wait for what?" Tali asked. Moments later, two audible explosions were heard from the next room.

"That. Lets go move out," I said. I went through and unleashed a torrent of bullets. Two Geth had been killed in the initial explosion while the others just had their shields drained. But with the torrent of bullets coming at them, they lost another three in an instant. I searched for a new target hoping we got all of them. Unfortunately the last one rammed into me, launching me to the other side of the room. Also made me lose my rifle. I quickly rolled over and drew my desert eagle pistols, but I then find a Geth looking at me square in the eye. Only he's not shooting, just looking at me. It then looks at my team as they deal with a Geth Prime.

It's "head" looks curious? It looked back at me and said," Good luck, Thompson-chief."

"What? What did you just say?" I asked. It quickly fled out a back door just as Tali was checking to see if I was alright. She extended her hand to help me up. I got up as she asked me what just happened. I starched my head and just said," Honestly I have no goddamn idea. Wonder if this means I'll be eligible for early retirement." she shakes her head at the joke, while she got the meaning, she was amazed at my joke. Wrex handed me my rifle and just gave me a "thumbs up" for my plan.

We entered a room and found an active Geth computer. I put my rifle down and said," Alright cover me. Shouldn't take too long. Hopefully I might get something interesting out of this." I quickly began typing and synced up my A.I. to the computer.

"Online, how may I be of assistance?" Monty asked.

"give me a hand in decrypting this damned thing. It's a major pain to hack," I said. Suddenly the computer began downloading the info I needed. "Um Monty? What type of software was put into you?" I asked.

"Well the software I have is state of the art, it isn't advanced enough to decrypt the firewalls that fast. Someone else had to have done it," Monty said.

I looked over at Tali and said," Tali did you hack this thing?"

"No why?" she asked.

I looked back at the thing and said," just wondering. One minute looks like it'll take a few minutes and the next, all the info is flowing in." little did I know that unseen was the Geth soldier who spared me, was closing his Omni-tool after successfully opening the computer for us. I downloaded all relevant data on the Geth and made a second copy.

"Operations Chief Thompson, are you thinking what I am thinking about that second copy you made?" Monty asked.

"Yes. I'm giving it to Tali," I said. Once the download was complete, I took the OSD and handed it Tali. "Here. All the data on the Geth in this facility. May give your people what you need to over come the Geth," I said. She took it and examined the still open console to see if I had truly downloaded all the data.

"Thank you. I don't what to say," she said.

"Hey save the love bird talk for later," Wrex said.

"Uh right lets get of here. The Warsaw isn't going to wait long before they send in a team of Marines to evac us," I said. We left the base were picked up by the Warsaw minutes later. Tali was reviewing the data while I chatted with a few of commandos who said they had family on Eden Prime. Apparently my team holding out like we did gave a lot of farmers the time they needed to get out or hide. The commandos families included. Wrex just hang out not saying anything as he always did, even when on the Normandy. The ship was taking us back to the Citadel to rendezvous with the Normandy.

But if there was one thing I couldn't understand back at the base it was this, the Geth soldier who spared me. First of all it could've shot at Wrex and Tali while the Prime was fighting them and could've dealt with me as well. Also what had me most unhinged was that it actually spoke, rather than the usual stuttering sound other Geth made. I pushes the thought to the back of my mind. _Probably just a freak accident,_ I thought. We docked at the Citadel a few hours later. Now we apparently had another mission to do, big surprise there. But this time we'd be working with a Salarian Special Tasks Group. So if these were the Special Tasks Group, then we were in a old fashioned cluster fuck as my dad always said.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Virmire

Virmire, a lush and habitable world in the Sentry Omega Nebula, in the Hoc System. There have been several times where the council and the alliance have made deals with the local gang and black marketers to secure a sizeable amount of land to colonize. Each time the original leader was killed and the deal broken. Happened so many times that we gave up on colonizing it. Now though, it seemed that all Gangs and black marketers here have been all but annihilated. The Geth and Saren had set up shop, a massive shop too. A massive base complete with Anti-Air defenses and shit loads of Geth.

Shepard mentioned the council had been notified about the base because of a distress signal. Only the distress signal was little more than static. So instead of risking a war with the Terminus Systems, they send us in. Big surprise there. The council was more concerned with Politics than they were with the threat Saren posed against the Galaxy. I swear, sometimes I wish we had Generals and Admirals calling the shots on big military related business and not fucking politicians who've never been to war. The only reason we were hear from that damn transmission was because it was on a channel reserved for mission critical reports only.

Big deal, I bet the only sent us was so we'd end up fucking up the damn mission. Give them a reason to chew our asses. God how I hated politics. "Thompson, Mike, Garrus, Tali and Kaiden report to the Garage. We're going in to take out those A.A. towers. Oh and Thompson, bring some heavy weapons incase we run into any heavy stuff," said Shepard.

"On it chief," I said. I opened my weapons locker and felt good to be back on the Normandy. Felt very different and out of place to be on the Warsaw, sure it was an Alliance vessel but I felt more comfortable on the Normandy, no idea why though. I grabbed an M249 and three cases of ammo. Along with that went two L.A.W's(Light Anti-tank Weapon). I strapped a Desert Eagle and M1911 to my hips so I had some close range support. I closed my weapon locker and grabbed three blocks of C-4, never know when you'd need to blow something sky high. I met everyone Shepard had called down in the Garage and saw that Garrus and Mike had patched up the Greyhound while I was away.

"Alright listen up, Geth have the airspace firmly locked down. That means A.A. towers and everything. So we're going in as two separate Teams. Garrus, Mike and Tex will go ahead of us and clear out as much of the Geth as they can. They have twenty minutes. After which Tali, Kaiden and I will come up and destroy what's left and deactivate the towers if Tex fails to do that," Shepard said.

"Thank you sir. Your confidence is overwhelming," I said.

"Operations Chief, I suggest we put Jones in the turret and you drive. Garrus can provide maintenance if we suffer any hull damage or shield drainage," said Monty.

"I was about to think that but thanks. You can count on us Commander," I said.

"Good. Get to work people. We don't have long," Shepard said. My team and I quickly got loaded into the Greyhound. Tali, Kaiden and Shepard loaded into the Mako.

"Alright. We are charged and ready to go," I said.

"Good. Hey notice that Shepard trusts us a bit more now that he uses our first names?" Mike asked.

"Yeah, but he's used mine. It's you he doesn't like," I said.

"bull. He hates you. You can't seem to stop getting injured you know?" he said," I swear I think if we stay on long enough, Chakwas will have a medical table labeled just so you know where to go next time you get hit." Garrus laughed at that, probably since it may end up true.

"Just keep yer eyes out for the Geth, finger on the trigger and we'll make it in on piece," I said.

"Roger that sir," he said mockingly.

"Approaching the drop point," said joker.

"Greyhound squad get ready to accelerate once we hit the ground. Remember you've got twenty minutes before we start rolling. Try to knock out as much resistance as you can," said Shepard.

"Affirmative. Mike's already itching to do that sir. Garrus be ready may need you to operate the main gun. Mike's got the M.G. but he can't operate two guns at once," I said.

"Affirmative Tex," said Garrus. The Normandy's bay doors opened and the Greyhound fell out first. It was almost immediately followed by the Mako. The mission clock of Twenty minutes began ticking down as we hit the water. I popped the Greyhound into first gear and sent it "flying" through the natural road given. Geth drones and soldiers lurked everywhere. But Mike didn't get the Expert rating in basic just by asking. Mike showed off his superb shooting skill as he began knocking Drones to the ground and sent the soldiers into the water.

Unfortunately there was also the Colossus that was stationed not far from us. Garrus fired and took out its shields. Mike sent a multiple of heavy rounds into the things head and caused it to explode. The greyhound smashed through the destroyed chassis and went further into the Geth outpost until we hit a road block.

"Damnit. Geth sent up a locking mechanism. Mike, Garrus cover me, I'm going in," I said. I exited the Greyhound and entered the outpost. I drew two Geth Destroyers into the open and let Mike mow 'em down. I ran to the controls and opened the Gate. The Greyhound began rolling through and I jumped onto it. "Oy! Who the hell is driving?" I asked.

"That'd be me Tex. While you and Tali were away doing god knows what, I had Shepard let me take this thing out for a spin. So you get to gun down any baddies with the M.G." Mike said.

"Smug bastard," I said quietly. I got into the opening and manned the gun as Mike drove the Greyhound through the Geth defenses. I let loose a lot of bullets and killed damn near all the Geth in our way. I looked at the mission clock and noticed that we had only five minutes to go before Shepard and his team tried to catch up. As we reached our twenty minute limit we cam up upon another roadblock.

"Tex do yer thing," Mike said. I got out and began racing for the console and barely saw the two Destroyers in the way. A burst from the Greyhounds M.G, solved that though. I hit the controls and the gate opened.

"Mike hold up. I think I found the A.A. controls for the A.A. guns keeping the Normandy out of reach. You guys give me some cover," I said. I looked at the controls more closely and said," uh actually might need someone else up here with experience with Geth tech. I have no clue how to operate this."

"I'll radio Shepard. Tali might be able to get the tower. They can't be too far behind," said Mike.

"Roger that. In fact isn't that him behind us?" I asked. Shepard and Tali came up the steps with Kaiden covering.

"Good job clearing the way. Managed to get here a lot faster than we thought," Shepard said.

"Thanks sir. But uh we still need these guns down and I haven't got a clue on this operating system," I said.

"Tali's got it. You and your team go clear out any resistance we may come upon," said Shepard.

"Affirmative," I said. I keyed my radio and said," Mike you're gunner, I'll drive." we switched out and drove on ahead. Pretty much what we saw on the way here, well with a lot less Geth and no Colossus. We stopped at a third roadblock and this time Mike got out and hacked the controls. We reached the Salarian camp ahead of Shepard and the Normandy and relayed that there was a lot less Salarian's than there should've been. Guess they'd gotten in a big firefight and taken heavy losses. Big surprise, this time sarcastically. Salarians have been known to hold their own in big fights, most notably against Krogan. Shepard and the Normandy showed up just a few minutes after us.

"Thompson, status report," Shepard said.

"Uh well things for the Salarians are kinda fucked up. Apparently they were expecting a fleet not a single starship. But Council wouldn't have listened anyway. Their captain has more details. But they were able to find out the true value of this base," I said.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Apparently this base actually a research facility. Looks like they're studying the Genophage and actually breeding Krogan," I said. That drew Wrex's attention.

"Breeding Krogan? Tell me you're not lying," he said.

"Wrex all I know is what that captain told me. So if you want more details, I suggest going to him if you want more," I said. Shepard went to the captain and was told about everything. Mike and I just waited around for an order, or at least he did. I checked my rifle for any damage or jamming. But I looked at my original ammo and decided I'd need something else. I went over to the requisitions officer and got a new rifle, pistol and shotgun. I had my original weapons taken back to the Normandy.

"Thompson get yer ass here now!!" Shepard shouted. _Great something must be wrong with the plan now,_ I thought. I ran over to where he was and saw some anger in the group.

"you wanted me sir?" I asked.

"Yeah, well Captain Kirrahe wants someone to help lead the assault he's got planned for the base. And I want in it. If there's one thing I know you can do, it's blow up Geth," he said.

"Sir, yes sir. Glad to be part of this," I said. I grabbed some "new age" grenades and prepared for the battle. Shepard was able to calm Wrex down but now he wants Saren's head.

"Well looks like someone upgraded. Decided to go with something that's got some type of firepower and no ammo?" Tali teased.

"Yeah figured I was about to head into a shit storm so thought why waste precious bullets? Plus gives my guns a rest," I said. But she noticed I was off or something.

"You okay?" she asked.

"No not really. Never thought I'd be in an offensive this early in my career. Then again, the guys in D-Day didn't think so either. Just great, well guess I'll catch you on the flip side," I said. I attempted to walk away but Tali didn't let me.

"Flip side?" she asked. She wanted to use that excuse to spend some more time before the fight.

"Meaning see you in heaven, the flip side in other words," I said. Tali shared with me a hug before I went to the departing Salarian teams. Kirrahe put me in the team labeled Aegohr, one of the Salarians first Colonies, with me was Kaiden Alenko. "Well here we go huh?" I asked.

"Yep, lets hope we make it out of this hell hole alive," he said.

"Yeah, suddenly I got a reason to make to out alive," I said. He chuckled at what I said.

"mind if I ask what that reason is?" he asked.

"Not at all sir. That reason is well mainly in the form of a crew member on the ship, that's all I'm saying right now. You'll have to figure that out by yourself," I said. We reached the outskirts of the base and Kirrahe made the final preparations before we engaged the Geth and got inside the Base. I gripped my rifle in death grip as we waited for the order.

"All teams this is Mannovai, we are ready to hold the line. All teams engage, I repeat engage," he said.

"guess that's us," I said. We ran up to the gates and found them closed. With the others approaching we had to get the door open.

"Tell me you got something in yer pack to help us," Kaiden said.

"Hell yeah," I replied. I grabbed the C-4 from it and began wiring it to the door. Geth forces however were coordinating their defense with extraordinary success.

"Damn, Shadow this is Aegohr we are having a hard time reaching the enemy's "house". Tex is getting us a door n but he needs time. See if you can disrupt any of their communications," he said as he covered me. I stuck a demo charge on the door and armed it.

"We're set," I said.

"Good. All teams this is Aegohr we're about to get us a hole in the wall," Kaiden said. We got away from the door and hit the button. The charge blew the door inward and allowed us to get into the base. "Tex! Sounds like the Geth are getting disorganized," said Kaiden.

"What makes you say that?" I asked as I shot at several Geth troopers.

"Hacked into their comms or what passes as it for them, sounds like their receiving some real shitty commands," he said.

"Must be Shadow or that weird Geth I encountered," I said.

"Weird Geth? What?" Kaiden asked.

"I'll explain later, after we live," I said.

"I'm holding you to that," he said. He laughed at the thought of a weird Geth and I joined in a bit. Then Geth artillery began pounding us.

"Oh shit!" I shouted.

"Mannovai, this is Aegohr Geth are hitting us hard with Artillery. Be advised over. From the looks of it they're using some typed of Satellite uplink to zero in on us, only way they could have got several kills in a single shot," Kaiden said.

"Roger that Mannovai. Shadow, Keep your eyes out for an uplink, its hitting us hard," said Kirrahe. I shot at several Geth and moved to another position.

"Hey Kaiden I see I a door. And according to these specs that door will take us to the west A.A. tower, we bring that down and Joker could pick us up," I said.

"Well open it," he said. The Geth's open interior of the base provided them with perfect opportunities to hit us with Artillery and overhead sorties with drones and drop ships. I ran to the door and tried to open it manually.

"Fucking Geth locks. I'll blow up every goddamn door if I have to. These fuckers ain't stopping us that easily," I said. I pulled out another block of C-4 and began wiring it to the door.

"Aegohr this is Shadow over," said Shepard.

"Commander, you know you can call us by our names right?" I asked. I fixed the charge to the door and armed it.

"Right I'll remember that when I'm filing for a transfer," he said.

"Sorry sir, just not used to these damned call signs yet. First big op you know," I said. A Geth flyer shot at me and made my shields ripple from the shot. "damnit! Fucking Bugger!" I shouted. I looked over at Kaiden and shouted," Hey if your not busy how bout giving me a hand? Keep those damned things off me. I screw up in setting this up and expect to see me in an extended stay in the Med bay," I said. I finished arming the charge and ran to cover. The Charge blew and I noticed that several Geth were charging in through the door.

"All troops, looks like those flyers are bugging out. Bunker in and prepare to see them again. Shadow if you can try to take them out," said Kirrahe.

"Roger that captain. Oh and you can thank us for stopping those arty strikes," Shepard said. I grunted as I threw a disk grenade at a group of Geth. I half expected it to bounce about but watched as it stuck on one. I clicked the detonator on it and watched as several normal Geth go down.

We waited for well over fifteen minutes for the flyers to come back. But as luck would have it they didn't.

"Captain Kirrahe looks like Shadow did it's job. I'm not seeing any new flyers. Looks like we are green," I said. I watched as Kaiden took out two Geth with his biotics and took out a third with his pistol. I saw stalker, similar to what we saw on Feros, come up from behind and shot it. Luckily the round was able to reach it and alerted the lieutenant to the danger. He finished it off with a few rounds to the chest.

Kaiden and I rallied Aegohr team and advanced on the A.A. tower. Geth were determined to keep the damned thing. We would've just left it too them but the Normandy needs the airspace clear to get the bomb down to the ground. The Salarians quickly began to storm up to the tower but three were quickly cut down by the Geth snipers. However me and the other Salarian soldier were able to spot them and take 'em out.

Kaiden assaulted the position with the rest of the squad as I came up from behind covering us. He moved over to the console and deactivated the tower. _Blow up our ship huh?,_ I thought. Unfortunately Geth reinforcements showed up and several Salarians flew in an instant.

"Fall back!!" Kaiden shouted. We desperately tried to get the hell out of dodge. But the Geth were pressing and we were effectively cut off. Kaiden took a bullet to his abdomen and had to rely on a piece of cover to stay in the fight.

"Shepard this Thompson, do you read over? Please Shepard we're not going to hold for long," I said.

"Thompson what's going on? Why aren't you here? We're setting the bomb and Tali's going nuts about where you and Aegohr are," Shepard said.

"Sir, we are screwed out the damned yin-yang here. Geth forces have pinned us down and now we're taking heavy losses. Can't get to you. Sir, just set the damned bomb and get the hell out of here. You can't wait for us. The Geth could be on you at minute," I said.

"we are not going to discuss this marine. Tali, Wrex, Jones and Garrus get over to Aegohr and get them back here post-haste," Shepard shouted. The fight dragged on for roughly about twenty minutes, felt like twenty days for us. Geth forces were advancing and the Salarians weren't going to be alive for much longer. Not to mention Kaiden and me.

"Hey what's the status on that team Shepard sent?" Kaiden asked.

"Hell if I know, those damned Geth are creeping closer I haven't had the chance to check the radio. You check mister wounded soldier, I've already had enough trips to the med-bay to last a lifetime. I'll cover you," I said.

Suddenly a Geth soldier went flying over my head as Wrex ran and shouted," I. AM. KROGAN!!!"

"Uh forget what I said, the cavalry's here," I shouted. Tali and mike went over to Kaiden to evac him while I stuck with Garrus and Wrex. _We're just cheating death like crazy nowadays, _I thought. Everything went our way until we saw the bomb site being assaulted with Geth. We joined just in time as Saren came into the mix. Some type of shock wave sent all of us flying onto our backs. Saren was about to kill Shepard before he kneed him in the stomach. Saren retreated a little after that, guess he knew what was coming.

We set the bomb and piled into the recently arrived Normandy. Kaiden went to the med-bay while I stayed out, for once anyway. _About time someone other than me went there, _I thought. Even though we were well over a ways away, we could feel the bomb go off. Captain Kirrahe and the other squads all made it out, minus what he lost in the initial scouting op.

Tali told me about what they found there, several Salarian soldiers indoctrinated, just walking aimlessly. One guy hadn't been turned and was able to flee. Even an innocent Asari scientist got out unscathed. Hopefully any way. But with those soldiers, I couldn't think of anything worse than that, death seemed to be the right thing for them with no freedom. The age old expression of Freedom ain't Free sprung to mind, if you had freedom, then a bunch of soldiers had died so you could have it.

Now we were headed to the Citadel guess the council's getting off their dumb asses to fight Saren. _Guess that made us big damn heroes captain, _I thought. I chuckled as I got to work on my rifle. I visited Tali and she was still both ecstatic about the data I gave her two missions ago and scared about Virmire. No one died but still facing a battalion of Geth does tend to make one realize how close to death they really came without ever actually dying. Now we just had to wait for confirmation.


	7. Chapter 7: Lockdown and Ilos

Chapter 7: Lockdown and Ilos

The citadel, I had a heavy feeling we were going to walk into a shit storm. But Shepard told me time and time again to calm down a notch. Kinda hard to do that when the Geth and Sovereign about to strike. But I tried nonetheless but I kinda suspected Shepard was a bit on edge with this. Or maybe I was being paranoid, did have a tendency to be like that nowadays. I watched a vid my girl had put together to try and get us back together. Guess Tali was right, medals and a nasty scar on the neck are just the ticket to get an old flame back to you. But I just watched with a bit of coldness as she talked on and on about how she was an idiot.

Never try that on a marine under the command of a human spectre, they knew how to lie better than anyone. Albeit only one human spectre was around but still, spectre's knew how to lie. Finally Tali knocked on the door. And I allowed her to enter. She noticed the vid playing just before I shut it off.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Officially, it's a recording from my ex saying how we should get back together. Unofficially however, it's a pathetic excuse in the art of deceit. She probably wants me for my recognition. I never really wanted any of that, so long as a mission got done with little or no civilian or military casualties and they go home safe and sound, that's all I ever need out of the military," I said.

Tali smiled under her helmet. "You didn't join for glory?" she asked.

"No, out of spite of my father and because of the expertise of the commandos. I thought I told you this already," I said.

"You did. Just like visiting is all," she said.

"Shame you have that suit on. But as my mum always said, beauty lies in a persons character not their looks," I said. I took a swig of water from a nearby bottle after I said that.

"No whiskey?" she said.

"Nope guess while I was out or something, Chakwas confiscated all my supplies of it. Damned shame, but at least my stomach loves me again and I don't have hangovers," I said jokingly. Tali chuckled and swore as Joker told me to report to the bridge. Seemed we had docked and Shepard had picked Jones and me to go on out on the citadel. As we exited, Kaiden and Williams caught up with us and wanted to see the councils face once we arrived. Unfortunately the situation was less than ideal.

Udina, Anderson and an Alliance Admiral were waiting for us at the base of the tower. "Come on. Council's waiting," Udina said.

"Yes and after, Tex and Mike have a new ship to relocate to," the admiral said.

"Huh?" Shepard said.

"Tex is my son. After Eden Prime, I realized that Infantry isn't fitting for him. He's too report to Carrier Einstein for reassignment. Sorry son," he said.

"Bastard, now I wish I had bled to death on Feros. Least having my throat slit was better than being reassigned to a non combat role," I said.

"Throat slit? No I wish I hadn't let Hackett approve that transfer of yours," he said.

"Shut up you Bosh'tet," I said. Some of Tali's culture had rubbed off on me and it felt good to call my dad a Bosh'tet, even if I didn't know what it meant.

"Watch your mouth marine. And its sir," he said seething with rage.

"Right. Shut up you Bosh'tet sir," I said. He turned away and I decided to say something. "And when the wielder of the pen strikes back with the power of writing none can stand against him," I said with a smile. _Protocol be damned to fucking hell, _I thought. He turned and was filled with rage.

"I swear to god soldier. The minute this damned rogue spectre is caught you'll never even have the privilege to think about combat," he said. I still stood there, just smirking.

"Admiral, he's got nothing to lose. He figures since he'll be reassigned why should he obey protocol?" Shepard asked with a smile obviously enjoying the argument.

"You'll find out soon enough," he said. And he smiled. I looked at Shepard and everyone else on the team with a look that said, this won't end well. The elevator stopped and we entered the presidium tower. The council thanked us for our efforts and said that numerous fleets were patrolling the mass relays linked to the Citadel twenty-four/seven. But then they mentioned how the Normandy was grounded. They knew damn well we'd go into the terminus systems looking for Saren. But rather than risking a war with the terminus systems, they decided to keep us down. Cowards was the word that popped in our heads that time.

We went back to the Normandy to tell about the fact that we were grounded and not going anywhere. Mike and I on the other hand had to load up and leave. Tali visited me as I packed the last of my things and fiddled with something.

"How are you holding up?" she asked.

"Not to well really. I still don't believe it. We go across the galaxy and uncover this and they still go with a politic reason to stay out. Fucking cowards," I said.

"Um what are you fiddling with?" she asked. She pointed to the dagger in my hand.

"old family relic. They call it the Dragon's Tooth. A dagger forged in the fires of Mount Fuji. My ancestor won this in a duel with a Japanese officer during the Second World War. Been in my family ever since," I said. I flipped it around and presented it too her. "I want you to have it," I said bluntly.

"What? But it belongs to your family," she said pushing it away.

"Yes but I'm leaving anyway. Might as well have something to remember me by," I said. She finally took it and hugged me. She took out her knife and gave it to me.

"If I'm going to keep something of you, you'll have to keep something of me," she said. She put it in my hand and I smiled.

"The beautiful Angel of the stars, matches a gift of mine with a gift of hers. Showing that not only is she beautiful but generous. I shall treasure it always," I said.

"Beautiful angel?" she asked.

"Yeah, thought I'd go with a bit of poetry. Never was very good at it," I said. I lied down on my bunk and after a minute or so she laid right next to me facing me. I looked into her facemask and thought I was looking into the mirror of an angel.

"You really think I'm an angel?" she asked.

"Yes I do. Tali I never told you this but I think I've fallen for you. I know it's not a very good way or appropriate one either but I couldn't just leave and not tell you," I said. I looked at her silver eyes, they were just barely visible and thought of a poem. "How easy it is for one such as me, to fall for an angel. How easy it is to be lost in your eyes of sliver. How I wish I could be close to you," I whispered. We moved to kiss but the soft clunk of my forehead against the glass of her mask stopped us.

"And there's the down side to this moment," I said. But before anything else could happen, Joker called Shepard saying that Anderson had radioed wanting him to meet at Flux. Shepard told me and mike to head out with him. We grabbed our armor and what weapons we had on hand. Unfortunately for me I had a Winchester rifle on hand. But I still had a modern shotgun from the Virmire mission in my weapon locker. So I just grabbed those and went to Flux with Shepard and Mike.

Anderson was waiting and filled us in on the mission he had. He would sneak into either C-Sec security or Udina's office and disable the lockdown from there. Then we'd head for Ilos and stop Saren. Shepard told him to go to Udina's office to lower the risk of detection and danger when taking down the lockdown. Shepard turned to me and Mike and said," You guys can stay here if you like. We wont hold against you."

"Well as for me I'd go with you. Tex, I don't know he's known for following protocol," Mike said.

"Well Tex?" Shepard asked me.

"Back when I was still growing up, you know before I enlisted, my dad told me something. _A man's gotta know which orders to follow and which to break, or how can he truly be a soldier,_ he said. Right now, I think that order for me leave your crew is bullshit. Shepard, you'll need all the help you can get. I've never back downed from anything, and I'm not about to start now. Count me in this one," I said with a smile.

"Tali grown on you huh?" Mike said with a chuckle.

"I got my reasons, dirt bag. So unless you want a twenty two caliber round in the ass, I suggest you shut up. We're wasting time now so lets get going before Joker leaves without us," I said.

"Tex is right, lets move. Oh and we already know the reason on why you're staying," Shepard said. We got onto the Normandy and waited for Anderson's signal. The signal turned out to be a green light on Joker's navigation board and we pulled out in a hurry. "Joker get us out of here," Shepard said.

"No need to tell me twice," Joker said. The Normandy accelerated out of system and headed for the Mu relay, which according to Shepard was the only way to Ilos. Shepard wanted me and the Greyhound up incase we needed it. Garrus, Mike and I worked on it and got the ammo refilled. Armor was good as new and with the re-supply of ammo, it's in fighting condition. I walked back to my bunk and decided to try and sleep for the next couple hours or so. Wouldn't be long before we reached the Mu relay anyhow.

When I got there Tali was waiting. Guess she found the impending mission fear inducing, couldn't say I blame her. We laid in my bunk holding each other, unknowing of what we'll face. When Joker told us we had about five minutes til we hit the relay, we got up and went to the weapon locker. I grabbed my half full clip from the battle of Eden Prime when Saren killed my squad. I grabbed my M16 and a Thompson submachine gun. But I thought back what Tali told me back on Therum. _These antiques are going to get you killed,_ she had said. I thought to myself, _do I really need this? Shepard said not to let all this hate burn me up._ I finally made up my mind and put those weapons away. I grabbed only an M24 rifle for sharp shooting and took the elevator down to the requisitions officer.

"Hey Tex. Sorry but I ain't got any of that old stuff you take. Only modern shit, even Spectre gear thanks to Shepard," he said.

"That's what I need," I said.

"Whoa, didn't think I'd ever see you want a modern gun over your select stash," he said. He picked out a rifle behind him and put if front of me. "Shepard wanted you have it. Guess he knew you'd choose something different or maybe just in case you did," he said. I picked up the rifle and the weight, while lighter than I like, was a good change.

"Thanks," I said. I took the elevator up and saw Ashley Williams leave Shepard's quarters and decided probably not the best of times to be snooping. I grabbed a reload-able rocket launcher and three extra missiles. I loaded my equipment into the Greyhound but Shepard said," Tex move your gear to the Mako, we're taking that. There's not enough landing room to attempt a proper landing so we're going in hot."

"Affirmative. Great and now I get to feel my organs squashed like pineapples. Mike and I will be there," I said.

"Roger that. Tali, Garrus and Ashley are coming to ground with us. Get ready marines," Shepard said.

"Roger that. Tex out," I said. I grabbed my rifle and got into the Mako. Shepard and the team he selected showed up just a few minutes after. I got into the drivers seat and Mike was in the gunners seat.

"Good to see you two locked, cocked and ready to rock," said Shepard.

"Though I was the only one who said those sayings," I said.

"Old sayings die hard remember?" he said with a smile. He took notice of the rifle next to me and said," Good to see your weaponry evolved some."

"Still got a rocket launcher and an old but still reliable M24 for snipping the shit out of the Geth bastards," I said.

"Good might need those. You bring that mag of bullets with you for when we hit Saren?" Shepard asked. He expected me to bring it and my M16 to deliver the final blow for my squad. But he didn't expect my answer.

"Sir, no sir. Left it in my bunk. Like you said, wasn't very healthy to keep it around. Better to whack Saren with modern guns than a fucking outdated one," I said.

"Hang on everybody. We're going in hot! Gonna be a tight squeeze for the ground team over," Joker.

"Tight squeeze?" Mike asked.

"The only thing with a good point of landing near Saren has only a small clearance of twenty meters. The reason why we're using the Mako. Couldn't afford to break us or lose the greyhound. You comfortable with this? We could always leave you here," Shepard asked with a smile as the Normandy went into a nose dive.

"And miss this shit? Fuck no! might as well go out knowing I did something my dad never did. The smallest clearance he had with to jump into was thirty meters. Glad I hooked up with your crew on this mission Shepard," I said with a smile. The bay doors opened and the clamps holding the Mako down released and the vehicle rolled forward and went into the atmosphere. As soon as we were clear Joker brought the Normandy up and sped out of system. We landed just as the doors into the bunker Saren had just entered closed. He shot us a look as if he were about to say _you lose Shepard._

The Mako stopped just before it and I hit the button to release the ramp. Behind the Mako were several Geth and took potshots at Shepard crew. One laser got me though, lasers ricochet who knew? "Damnit!" I shouted as I felt the laser split into my armor past and into my skin. I hadn't activated my shields once we hit ground.

Mike turned the turret and gunned the soldiers down. Shepard turned to me and checked my wound. "How bad is it?" I asked.

"Well you ain't gonna be paralyzed for life but you're still plenty hurt. We'll have to keep you here. Mike stay on the gun. Ash stay with him, just cause he's got Mike doesn't mean he's safe," Shepard said.

"Sir I know you let anyone die here but why assign me? You'll need all the firepower you have to get to the security lockdown lifted," Ashley protested.

"But I need tech as well. Plus with out Tex we ain't got anybody to drive this damned thing. He's got more experience with combat drives. Right Tex?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah in the simulation but I'll do my best. Good luck chief," I said.

"Good, least with the Sim., you still top all of us," he said. He grabbed his rifle and went to leave.

"Sir, take my rocket launcher. May need it. Easy to use too. I'm sure Tali could show you," I said. I grabbed my launcher and the pack I set beside me and did my best to hand them over the chair. Shepard and the rest of the squad left while I was stuck in my damn chair unable to fight for the time being.

"So how was it with Tali?" Ashley asked.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked.

She turned to look at me and said," like you don't know. I saw you and her go into your bunk. Something had to have happened. You get to see under her helmet?"

"Yea actually I'm a bit curious myself. What she look like?" Mike asked.

"Well nothing happened. I didn't see under her helmet so shut up get set in case those fuckers try to grab this vehicle," I said.

"Ok. Denial, right Williams?" Mike asked.

"Yeah, didn't figure you'd actually go for an alien, let alone a Quarian," she said.

"Hey I thought I said shut up," I said.

"Yeah but with us being fugitives rank doesn't exactly matter now," Mike said.

"Good one Jones," Ashley said agreement. I rolled my eyes and waited eagerly for the rest of the squad to show up. Twenty minutes later and the bunker's main door was open with the squad piling into the Mako two minutes later.

"Glad you showed up. These two were driving me nuts," I said hooking a thumb at Mike and Williams.

"Yeah I bet. Drive down that way we need to hit Saren before he can get to the Conduit," Shepard said.

"No need to tell me twice," I said as the Mako accelerated down the ramp. As we entered the bowels of the building we noticed hundreds of pods aligned along the walls.

"What the hell?" Mike asked.

"Those Protheans in there?" I asked.

"Probably. Lets not stick around though," Shepard said. But as we continued we ran into what we took as an ambush. "Damn it, Tex get us out of here," Shepard said.

"Aye, Aye chief. Time to get the hell out of Dodge," I said.

But as we backed up, another force field popped up behind us. "Motherfuckers," I said. I turned to the main compartment and said," Mike blast our damned way out."

"You got it," he said. The turret swerved and the main guns started firing. But they did nothing to the force field. "Damn it. Fucking Shields are too thick to pierce with these guns," Mike said.

"Fuck. Hey that door. Maybe it'll lead us to a security panel to power down these things," I said.

"Good thinking. Tex, you and Tali are the most experienced engineers here and Tali won't be able to do this on her own. Better hope that wound of yours is healed right otherwise, we'll have to carry your ass out," Shepard said.

"Affirmative, popping hatch," I said. The rear door opened and Shepard got out with Ashley first, they were followed by Garrus, Tali, Mike and me. The door led to an elevator. We got in it and ascended up a level. In the level was a single walk way which led only to a computer console.

"You, you are not machine nor do you have the taint of indoctrination on you," said a voice.

"Um, please tell me I wasn't the only the one who heard that?" Mike said a bit spooked.

"Nope. Tex, that damned A.I. on or something?" Shepard asked.

"Yes but I ordered him to either A, shut the hell up or B, turn himself off. Which ever is easier but I think he's just being reasonably quiet. Hopefully," I said.

"Ok so if Montgomery didn't say anything, who did?" Ashley asked.

"forgive my actions but I was surprised to see untainted individuals such yourselves," the voice said again. A horribly distorted hologram came up and it introduced itself. "My name is Vigil. My personality is an imprint of Ksad Ishan, chief overseer of the Ilos research facility. I am glad to see that my creators plan worked," said the hologram.

"Plan? First of all who are your creators? Second, how are you talking to us? Third, what the hell kind of plan are you talking about? And if you could, tell us about the reapers," Shepard said.

"To answer your first question, my creators were the ones you refer to as the Protheans. I am able to communicate with you because I have monitored your communications since your arrival and have translated my audio output as such. The plan I mentioned was the signal my creators had planned to alter so we may stop the cycle," Vigil said.

"Cycle? What cycle?" Shepard asked.

"The cycle which extinguishes all advanced organic life which has been continued on for millions of years. The Reapers are sentient ships of untold power that can wipe out whole fleets in a single attack as they did to the Protheans ships. Soldier, in order to stop the reapers you must know of our mistakes so you do not make them yourself," Vigil said.

"I'm listening," Shepard said as he crossed his arms.

"Our civilization, like yours and others, was based upon the technology of the machines known as the Mass Relays. These were forged by the Reapers to prevent the development of more advanced forms of travel which would or could hamper their efforts to wipe out all life. Even the citadel was a trap for us like it is for you. When the Reapers attacked, we never knew what happened until it was too late. They wiped out most of our ships and killed our leaders in the initial assault but while most Star maps and everything concerning our species were captured, the information about the Ilos research facility was most likely the only thing destroyed before they Reapers wiped out all Prothean resistance. The few hundred who remained here were spared as the rest of our once glorious empire died in a slow but precise genocide at the hand of the Reapers," said Vigil.

"Damn, out of trillions of people, only a few hundred remained? Wait shouldn't they still be up? The Protheans should've survived then," Shepard said.

"Unfortunately the genocide of the Prothean people wasn't "completed" until after several centuries. As time went on, my power supplies began to dwindle. My creators had placed themselves into cryogenic suspension to prevent the early consumption of resources stockpiled here. But as I said before, as time went on I began to lose power. Without constant maintenance, Ilos's ecosystem began to retake the planet. And unfortunately this also included my power generators. In order to conserve the little power my generators were able to put out, I had to… deactivate the pods, one by one," Vigil said.

"what? You killed your own people? Your creators? Why didn't you just let out the engineering specialists and have them fix up your generators when you needed it?" Shepard asked.

"We could not risk the possibility of detection by the Reapers and further doom the Prothean species. By the time the Reapers had finally left, only a dozen life pods remained, the chief scientists of Ilos. Everyone else, the non essential crew, had died from the pods losing power. This out come of them was not foreseen, but it still pained my creators to write this regulation of cryogenic suspension containment. After realizing that the Prothean species was doomed with the only remaining Prothean people numbering a dozen people, they decided to risk sending a message through the beacons and get what survivors there were to seek refuge at Ilos. But fearing they were the only ones of their kind, my creators worked hard to ensure the survival of the species they'd been studying for years on end," said Vigil.

"The other species? You mean humans, Asari, Turian, Krogan, Salarian and the other members of this galaxy?" Shepard asked.

"Yes. The last Protheans worked for decades to find a way to stop the Reaper threat but they finally found the way to do so. They reviewed intercepted Citadel communications to find a strange signal being sent to the Citadel just seconds before the Reaper armada poured into the Galaxy. They assumed it was the signal the Reapers would send to have the Keepers open the Citadels hidden Mass Relay. They used a secret project developed here to regain access to the Citadel, the Conduit," Vigil said.

"The conduit? I thought it was a weapon. How can a weapon let someone regain access to the citadel?" I asked.

"The conduit is not a weapon as you thought. But instead it is a smaller version of a Mass Relay. We attempted to recreate the Mass Relays that are scattered through out the Galaxy. We partially succeeded by creating the Conduit. Unfortunately anyone who used it faced a one way trip after each use. After my creators used the Conduit, I could only assume that they starved since the possibility of finding food on the battle scarred Citadel was next to nothing. As for the remainders of our empire, whole worlds were left barren, their resources stripped form them. And the last of the Prothean people, indoctrinated, were left behind to either starve or die of exposure. But now your species and the other species out there face extinction unless you stop the Reapers," Vigil said.

"How the fuck are we supposed to stop an armada of Reapers? If the Protheans couldn't do it, since they had millions of ships and billions of soldiers, what the hell makes you think we stop the Reapers?" I asked.

"I gotta go with Tex commander. Seems like we'd need more help," Ashley said.

"Yes how could we stand up against those things?" Tali asked.

"Vigil? I assume you've got a plan," Shepard said.

"Yes, but you must act quickly. Sovereign and a massive fleet of starships are currently amassing to lay siege to the Citadel. I have a program which will grant you the power to temporarily take access away from Sovereign. Take a copy and hurry time is of the essence," Vigil said. We turned to leave but Vigil brought up a panel filled with some type of medical supplies. "One of your party is wounded and will impede your progress. Take some of these supplies to quickly heal your comrade and any of your party should they become wounded," he said. We took the supplies and headed for the elevator.

We piled into the Mako and headed for the Conduit. The Geth were at just about every turn of the ride and tried to slow us down. The aqueduct we drove into took us straight to our target. At the final stretch of the run, we found that only had Saren posted four Colossi tanks to stop us but our only window of opportunity was closing fast. "Tex punch it," Shepard said.

"Aye aye Shepard," I said as we accelerated down hill. The Colossi took notice of us and began firing and tried desperately to take us down. "Hang on everyone looks like a bumpy ride," I said. We reached the conduit with barely five seconds to spare and were sent at what seemed three or five times the speed of light towards the Citadel.


	8. Chapter 8: Showdown

Chapter 8: Final Showdown

_(A/N: Okay last chapter of ME1. Will write ME2, sorry if I disappoint but seriously please review it. Always welcoming that type of thing. By the way this chapter will fairly short. Sorry but running dry in the think tank recently. Ah well on with fan fiction thingamajig. Enjoy or not whichever works for you)_

The trip was almost instantaneous but we arrived too late it seemed to alert anyone of Saren's infiltration of the Citadel or of the fleet amassing on the doorstep of the Citadel. Two Geth were policing up bodies when they saw the Mass Relay statue nearby begin to flash. They moved closer and were soon crushed by the five hundred pound Mako APC. But unfortunately we smashed into a side of the presidium tower. "Damn it. Hey Shepard sorry I crashed your ride," I said. I unclipped my safety belt and fell onto the roof of the Mako.

Damned thing was almost on its side. I moved onto to my side to see Shepard was already getting out. _No time for jokes right now, _I thought. I reached behind me and grabbed the rifle I had been given and followed behind the rest of the squad. I watched Tali get through the "door" with ease while I had a hell of a time since we'd decided to patch up the wounded on the elevator ride. Mike hopped out behind me and helped me up since I had just fallen on my face.

"Gotta stop falling on your face man. Women like scars but not when you do it to yourself," he said. Mike was always a joker even at the wrong times. I rolled my eyes as the few Husks descended from their spike things.

"Take 'em out," Shepard said. We complied quietly vocal wise but loudly gun wise. I let loose a torrent of fire from my new rifle and took the heads off two husks. Ashley and Garrus took out another two while Mike dispatched one with hand to hand combat. Tali and Shepard dispatched the last one with shotgun bursts and a pistol shot to the face. We noticed an Avina avatar to our left and tried to use it. Damned thing was obviously experiencing massive damage to its circuits and the avatar image was going… wonky. By wonky I mean that it showed up facing different directions or even upside down.

But it was able to tell us that the council had been successfully evaced. Shame, bastards didn't give the Geth a chance to kill them. Ah well maybe the impending fleet would do that. Shepard got what info he could out of the thing and we got into the elevator. As it ascended, Tali helped administer the new medical stuff onto my lower back. Damned thing felt good as new when it was done. Unfortunately Sovereign reached the Presidium tower and Saren shut down the elevators.

"Everyone suit up we're going outside," Shepard said. We donned our helmets and Shepard shot out the glass. We walked out carefully to avoid propelling ourselves into space. As we made progress we began to encounter Geth after Geth soldier. Even Krogan battle masters unfortunately. I kept pace as we moved through the little trenches of the Presidium tower. Our progress was fairly good until we were ambushed by a Geth drop-ship.

"Drop-ship! Incoming! Take cover!" Mike shouted. We took cover just as it hovered over a passage that we needed to go through and began to spill out Geth forces. "Damn! The fucker is covering our exit point! We might need to find another route," mike said.

"Negative. We don't have a lot of time right now. Tali, Tex any ideas?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah just keep the fucking synthetic bastards off us," I said. Tali ripped open a panel for the nearby C-Sec defense tower. I ran to another tower and did the same. In about twenty seconds or so, we hacked the first two and they began pumping out multiple rounds at the drop ship. When Shepard realized what we were doing, he quickly ordered us to hurry up with the hacking. We had about four towers on before the Geth ship pulled out of harms way. "Alright lets go!" I shouted.

"right you are Tex," Shepard said. We ran through the trench system encountering sparse resistance. But that sparse resistance turned out to be Geth Destroyers or even Juggernauts. But we also kept running into Krogan berserkers and battle masters. As we made our way started to get a glimpse of Sovereign.

"Holy shit! I knew that Sovereign was big but didn't think he was that big," I said.

"Just get used to it. If we don't stop this thing then we'll be seeing more of those things about the same size pouring in," Shepard said.

"Right. Well better take care of this one," I said. Took us a little longer to get to the Council meeting chamber but we got there. We hopped through and were welcomed with familiar gravity. Unfortunately for me I fell flat on my face again.

"Damn man what is it with you and falling flat on your face?" Mike asked.

"Don't know. Probably because I was always thrown around in karate," I said.

"You can take off your helmets now. Except you of course Tali," Shepard half joked. We ran up to the ramp where Saren was working on something. He saw us coming and shut down whatever it was he was working on. We ran up and he dropped down to the floor below.

"Damn looks like he bugged out. Shep, looks like high time to use that data thing Vigil gave us," I said.

"Yeah no shit. Lets file that in a memo entitled shit we already know," Mike said.

"Knock it off. Why would Saren just leave knowing we'd be right behind him?" Shepard asked. And with that Saren popped up and started off with throwing a grenade, causing us to retreat to cover.

"I was afraid you wouldn't make in time Shepard," Saren said.

"Why did you think I'd be late?" Shepard said.

"I wanted you to see the Reapers return and give you one last chance to join them as I have. If you don't then you have truly lost, in just a few minutes, Sovereign will gain full control over the Citadel and open the Mass relay here and the Reapers will return!" Saren said.

"Yeah will I still got a couple tricks up my sleeve and they're damn good too. Especially since two of them are itching to avenge their squad that you killed back on Eden Prime!" Shepard said. Mike and I went over to the right but still found us in his sights.

"I had a feeling that a couple of marines survived. Didn't know they had joined your squad though. But no one here will survive. Sovereign has improved my body or upgraded it if you will," Saren said.

"Well that explains why you kill coldly. You're a fucking cyborg!" I shouted.

"Tex, pipe down and get a fucking bead on the fucker if I can't talk him out of this," Shepard shouted," Listen Saren, Sovereign's controlling you and you don't even know it!"

"Lies! Sovereign wants me as and ally! He gave me a chance to live against the Reaper invasion!" Saren shouted back.

"They did the same thing to the indoctrinated Prothean's. but then they just to rot! You think they want to have you their side? You're being used! They don't give a damn about you! All they care about is the death's of trillions! You're a spectre! You swore to uphold the peace and defend Council Space! Now you've got a chance to do that immensely! Help us Saren! Help the council!" Shepard shouted.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe- ugh! No I can't! Sovereign is too strong in my mind! I cant break his control!" Saren shouted.

"Fight him! You can do it Saren! Fight him!" Shepard shouted.

"Goodbye Shepard. And thank you," he merely said. He drew a pistol and put it to his head and pulled the trigger. He killed himself to save the galaxy and give us a chance to stop Sovereign. Shame he had to do that though. Saren fell of his hover vehicle and slammed through the glass beneath him. We ran to the control panel Saren had been using and powered it up.

"Tex upload Monty and I'll upload the file," Shepard said.

"already on it commander. Uploading the annoying A.I. program now," I said.

"I am now in the Citadel master computer. And I do take offense to that annoying A.I. remark," Monty said as his avatar of the British General appeared. "I have full access but it will not last long. We must do something right here and now before we lose control," Monty said.

"Open up the arms maybe the Citadel fleet can take out Sovereign," Ashley said.

"What? After the beating they took in the first few seconds of the invasion? They've got the same amount of chance for success as a snail winning a marathon," I said.

"Attention I am picking up a signal attempting to hail us. Patching it through," Monty said. He allowed the man on the other side to talk to us.

"Normandy to Commander Shepard. Come in Shepard can you hear me?" Joker said.

"I'm here Joker. What's going on?" Shepard asked.

"I'm here at a mass relay with the entire Arcturus fleet ready to jump in and kick some ass. Even got a few extra ships thanks to that Admiral Thompson. Open up a relay and we'll jump in and save the Destiny Ascension and ran hell on those Geth bastards," Joker said.

"Copy that Joker. We'll open them up and you jump in the fight," Shepard said.

"Wait commander. Maybe we should them back until the Arms are open. Make full use of the reinforcements," Ashley said.

"Sir much as I hate the council we can't just abandon them. Send the fleet in. If my dad is commanding the fleet then casualties will be a minimum. He's fought in all kinds of battles. He can coordinate the fleet with ease," I said.

"Whatever you decide Shepard we'll follow it to the letter," said a familiar voice.

"Dad, glad to hear your voice for once," I said.

"Good to hear yours to Tex. You're commander going to make a decision or what?" he asked.

"Yes I have. Admiral I'm opening the arms. Get in and save the Destiny Ascension," Shepard said.

"Wilco. Moving now," the admiral said. Monty silently opened the Mass Relay and allowed the entire Fifth fleet and ships of the first fleet to enter.

_Outside the Citadel_

The Alliance Navy flooded into the star system and Admiral Thompson's voice filled the speakers on the ships.

"All units, listen up. We need to save the Destiny Ascension at any cost. At any cost," the admiral said.

"Commander, we're detecting multiple contacts entering the system. It's the Alliance!" the Ascension's navigator exclaimed.

"By the Goddess, we're saved," the commander said. The Geth ships hitting the Ascension were soon hit hard by the Alliance ships. But the fight did not come without a cost. During the fight, eight Alliance cruisers were destroyed. The first was the Warsaw. Cape Town and Emden followed soon after. Then the Jakarta and Madrid exploded as well. Finally the last three, Cairo, Seoul and Shenyang, were destroyed as well. But the Destiny Ascension was saved and began to bug out with it's precious cargo. The Citadel arms opened and the massive ship Sovereign was revealed.

"All ships concentrate on Sovereign. Bring that monstrosity down at all costs," said Admiral Thompson. And the fleet quickly began to engage the ship.

_Inside the Citadel_

Shepard peered over into the pit where Saren's body lay and said," Make sure he's dead."

"On it Chief. Don't like the idea of desecrating bodies of the fallen though," I said. I hooked up a rappel line to a spot where the hook on was and rappelled down. Mike just used my line after I was down on the ground. I drew my forty-five pistol and fired a second shot into Saren's brain. "If he wasn't dead before, he's dead now sir," I said. I walked back to the line and started climbing up when the place shook like a thing possessed. I fell back into the pit with Mike as the ramp Shepard and the rest of the squad were on fell. as this happened, Saren's body just burst into flames. This revealed the extent of the implants he'd been given by Sovereign.

"Uh Tex, please tell me you got something up your sleeve," Shepard said as the new Saren rose.

"Nope. Whatever we got is what we fucking got. Let's kill this fucker now!" I said. We quickly regained ourselves and started firing at the thing. It jumped along the walls like Spider-man. But he had all kinds of weapons to help him. Laser eyes and even rockets. I fired my new rifle until the barrel glowed red hot. I ditched the weapon and drew my M-24 and resumed firing. Unfortunately the son of a bitch was tough to kill. But he wasn't invincible. No way in hell was he going to win against us. Finally though after nearly thirty minutes, the new Saren took a bullet and fell to "Earth". his body burned away for the last time and for some reason Sovereign just gave up.

His shields went down and he couldn't maintain his position on top of the Citadel tower. He toppled over and the Fleet took full advantage. The ship that delivered the fatal blow to the ship was none other than the Normandy. We watched as the fatal blow was delivered. For a few seconds the only sound that was uttered was a cheer from us. But then Shepard watched as a piece of Sovereign came toward us and said to us," Go."

We didn't get far before the piece of junk hit us. It knocked the living out of us even though it never actually hit us just the stuff around us. Anderson and some C-Sec personnel showed up to comb for survivors and found us. Or at least Garrus, Tali, Ashley, Mike and I. We were separated from Shepard once the debris hit. But the bastard proved he was a tough man to kill, he cam running over a piece of debris and stood there, just like a damned poster boy.

"Show off," I said jokingly.

"I ought to be saying that to you Tex. That damned Asari slit your throat and you still come out okay," Shepard shouted back in a calm voice.

"You'll still need to tell your dad how you came out of that one. Tex I've already talked to your father and he says your Shepard's problem now. He's not letting you get a desk job after what just took place," Anderson said. I smiled at this and shook Anderson's hand.

"You people will report back to the Normandy. Shepard has to come with me. Sorry friend but politics," Anderson said.

"Better you than me," I merely said. We walked back to the ship still rubbing our wounds as we made our way to the ship. We eventually learned humanity finally got a seat on the council and Shepard choose Anderson to take the job, soldier turned politician, who knew. But now we were still waiting for the reapers, didn't understand why since we just killed the vanguard. Shepard was adamant they'd return but I was too far in this to disbelieve him now. Might as well just believe him though, never was wrong about anything so far. Now we were just waiting for the reapers to come and get their asses whooped.

* * *

End of ME1. Thanks for reading if anyone is reading. Like I said at the top please review. Will post ME2 fanfic later in the future.


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